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Book X . .4-5 :Su- 
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COFOilGHT DEPOSIT. 




Abraham Lincoln in 1860. 



HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES 



A Brief Account of Our Geographic, Historical, 
Political, and Economic Conditions 



FOR EVENING SCHOOL STUDENTS 

BY 

WILLIAM ESTABROOK CHANCELLOR 

HOGE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, COLLEGE OF WOOSTER 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 



CoPTniGHT, 1905, 1012, by 
WILLIAM E. CHANCELLOR. 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. 

Copyright, 1921, by 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. 

history and government for evening schools. 



^f -2 1921 
g)CU624188 



PREFACE 

The purpose of this textbook is not only to present inter- 
esting and instructive accounts of our American history and 
of our political institutions, but also to introduce the superior 
students of evening schools to some of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of our social and business conditions. The maturity 
of such students in years and in experience necessitates a 
presentation of American affairs decidedly different from that 
in ordinary day-school textbooks. An experience of many 
years in several cities in teaching this important subject in 
evening classes has led me to prepare a text that i.i somewhat 
unlike any other both in its nature and in the range of its 
topics. Intending to deal with .matters that the evening-school 
student desires and needs to know, I have assumed that the 
reading and study of the text would be accompanied by skill- 
ful supplementary instruction by the zealous teachers of these 
interesting classes. 

The especial value of American history and civil govern- 
ment in evening schools is due to two facts : that many of the 
students are foreign-born or children of the foreign-born, anx- 
ious to know the story of our country ; and that most of them 
will soon be voters, who ought to know at least as much as 
these pages contain. Of these students, few have attended 
day school long enough to reach courses in American history. 
I have known many cases where foreigners entered city even- 
ing schools within a day or two of their arrival. 

This text is one of several in a series successfully used in 
many cities. It is now presented in a thoroughly revised 
edition. 

W. E. C. 



CONTENTS 



Important Dates 

Part I. Geography of Our Country 

Part II. History of Our Country . 

Part III. Civil Government of Our Country . 

Part IV. Our Business Affairs 

Summary 

Appendix ..... 

List of the Presidents , 

Dates of Settlement and Admission of States 

City Departments and Expenditures . 

Suggestions for Furtlier Study of United States History 
Government 

Additional Readings . . . . ■ . 

Declaration of Independence .... 

" The Declaration " — Abraham Lincoln . 

Epitome of the Constitution of the United States 

The Characters of Our Presidents 



PAGES 

5,6 



. 7-17 
18-60 
61-82 
83-92 
93, 94 
95-112 
. 95 
. 96 



and 

98-99 

. 100 

101-104 

. 104 

105-108 

109-115 



Index 



117-120 



IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN 
HISTORY 



1492. Christopher Columbus, an Italian in the employ of the Spanish, 

discovered the New World. 
1497. John Cabot, an Englishman, discovered the continent of North 

America. 
1535. Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, discovered the St. Lawrence River 

and located Montreal, the beginning of French settlement. 
1565 The Spanish settled in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest town 

now within the United States. 
1607. The settlement of Virginia, the first successful colony in the 

thirteen '• Original States," was begun by the English. 
1609. Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the Dutch, 

discovered the Hudson River. 
1620. The English Pilgrims began the settlement of Massachusetts. 
1647. INIassachusetts passed laws providing for the establishment of 

public schools. 
1664- The English took New Netherland from the Dutch and called it 

New York. 
1682. The English Quakers settled in Pennsylvania. 
1733. Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies, was settled by the 

English. 
1759. The English won their final victory over the French at Quebec, 

and became the greatest power in the New World. 
1775. The Revolutionary War was begun as a protest against taxation 

without colonial representation in the English Parliament. 

1775. The battle of Bunker Hill was fought between the Americans 

and the English. 

1776. The Continental Congress published the American Declaration 

of Independence from England. 

1776. The Americans won the battle of Trenton. 

1777, The Americans won the battle of Saratoga. 

1781. The Americans and their French allies won their final victory 

over the English at Yorktown. 
1789. In accordance with the new Constitution, George Washington 

became the first President of the United States. 
1793. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin that made Negro slavery 

profitable. 
1803. The Louisiana province was sold to the United States by France. 
1807. Robert Fulton built the first successful steamboat. 

5 



b IMPORTANT DATES 

1812-5. The second war with Great Britaui was fought. 
1819. Florida was piircliased from Spain. 

1819. The first steamship, the Savannah, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. 

1820. The ^Missouri Compromise fixed the northern limits of the States 

in which Negro slavery prevailed. 
1823. The iVfonroe Doctrine was declared, warning European nations 

not to establish further colonies in the New World. 
1825. The Erie Canal was opened, which made the city of New York 

the great commercial center of the United States. 
1830. The first successful steam locomotive was used in the U. S. 
1837. Samuel E. B. Morse patented the first successful telegraph. 

1845. Texas was annexed. 

1846. The Oregon boundary was fixed by treaty between the United 

States and Great Britain. 

1846-8. The United States fought a war with Mexico, and as the result 
acquired the southwestern States and Territories. 

1848. Gold was discovered in California, and its settlement by Ameri- 
cans was begun, 

1350. The Compromise of 1850 repealed the IVIissouri Compromise and 
led to the passage of the Eugitive Slave Law. 

1861-5. The War of Secession was fought. 

1862. The Monitor defeated the Merrimac in Hampton Roads, begin- 

ning a new order of affairs in naval warfare. 

1863. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama- 

tion, which set free the slaves. 
1863. Vicksburg was besieged and taken and the battle of Gettysburg 

was won by the Union armies. 
1865-70. The Thirteenth, Eourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were 

adopted, giving the Negroes freedom and the ballot. 
1369. The Pacific Railroad was finished, uniting New York with San 

Erancisco by steam railroads. 
1832. Immigration to the United States of Chinese laborers suspended. 
1884. The electric trolley street car was perfected for practical use. 
1898. The Hawaiian Islands were annexed. 
1898. The United States fought with Spain, set Cuba free, and acquired 

the Philippine Islands and Porto Rico. 
1902. The Wright Brothers invented a successful flying machine. 

1913. ' The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments were adopted, estab- 

lishing an income tax and popular election of Senators. 

1914. Completion of the Panama Canal by the United States. 
1917-X918. United States in the World War. 



THE GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND GOVERN- 
MENT or THE UNITED STATES 



PART I 

OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PEOPLE 

1. The Land. — The main body of the United States is a con- 
tinuous region that stretches across the continent of North 
America from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific 
Ocean on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico on the south 




New York City Harbor. 

to the Great Lakes on the north. This region is twenty -five 
hundred miles from east to west and thirteen hundred miles 
from north to south, and includes two great mountain systems 



8 GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 

with an immense river valley between them. The Atlantic 
Coast has many large and safe harbors for our coasting trade as 
well as for that with foreign countries. There are also several 
fine harbors on the Gulf of Mexico and on the Pacific Coast. 
The f resh-Avater lakes to the north are great inland seas upon 
which sail many fleets of merchant ships. 

2. The Resources. — The resources of the United States are 
of vast extent and wide distribution. The chief coal mines are 
in the Appalachian region ; iron is extensively mined near the 
shores of Lake »Superior ; but both these minerals are found in 




abundance in various other parts of the country. The Rocky 
Mountain Highland is noted for rich mines of gold, silver, 
lead, and copper. The latter is mined extensively also in* the 
Lake Superior region. The greatest wealth of the United 
States is in the millions of acres of fertile land upon the 
Atlantic Coast, in the Mississi})pi Valley, and upon the Pacific 
Coast. Both in resources and in climate, nearly the whole 
of our country is suitable for the habitation of man. 

3. The Climate. — The variations in climate are great. 
Florida is tropical, with moist heat, while Texas and South 
Carolina are almost tropical, with dry heat; most of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley has hot summers and cold winters ; the climate 



GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 9 

of northern California, Oregon, and Washington is compara- 
tively mild throughout the year ; and New England has short, 
warm summers and long, severe winters. 

4. The Agricultural Products. — The fruits, vegetables, and 
cereals raised in the United States vary from the tropical 
fruits of the South to the hardy grains of the North. All 
kinds of timber are found here, including pine, cedar, spruce, 
hickory, oak, walnut, and cypress. We are rich in forest lands, 
despite the often wasteful depredations of the lumbermen. 
On the farms, plantations, and ranches, there are all kinds of 
domestic animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poul- 
try. The vast industrial and commercial development of the 
factories and shops of our country is dependent in large measure 




Harvesting Wheat 

upon the fertility and extent of its farm, mineral, and timber 
lands. 

5. The Various Parts of the United States. — Besides the con- 
tinental region of the United States that stretches from Boston 
to San Francisco, with its forty-eight States, our nation pos- 
sesses lands not within that region. These separated lands 
include Alaska, the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, 
Porto Rico, and several small islands in the Pacihc Ocean. The 
District of Columbia is a small region between Maryland and 
Virginia, governed directly by Congress; in it is our capital 
city, Washington. All together there are some fifty-five dif- 
ferent governments subordinate to the general government of 
the United States. These subordinate sections include States, 
Territories, and Dependencies. Besides these, we have influ- 



10 GEOGEAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ence over the island of Cuba, which lies south of Florida, and 
over the republic of Panama, where our nation controls a ten- 
mile strip of land across the Isthmus of Panama, and has built 
a great canal to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. 
(See maps, pp. 11 and 19.) 

6. The States. — The forty-eight states vary largely in size, 
from Khode Island and Delaware, which are very small, to the 
immense States of Texas and California. Many of our States 
are larger than England, and the greatest, Texas, exceeds 
Austria-Hungary in size. 

The TJiirteen "Original States." — Thirteen of these States 
are known as the " Original States " because by their union 
they constituted the United States at its beginning. These 
thirteen States were colonies from the Old World, and secured 
their independence from Great Britain by the Revolutionary 
war. (See pp. 28 to 35.) They are New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, and Georgia. The other States have been 
admitted from time to time into the Union in accordance with 
the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, which 
was framed in 1787 and was formally ratified soon thereafter 
by the different States. 

7. The Various Groups of States. — For the sake of conven- 
ience, the States are commonly divided into certain groups. 
This enables us to refer conveniently to a region including a 
number of States. 

Neiv England States. — The New England States are Maine, 
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and 
Connecticut. Taken all together, they are not quite equal in 
size to the State of Washington. 

Middle Atlantic States. — Another group is often called the 
Middle Atlantic States, and consists of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and West 
Virginia. This division includes also the District of Co- 
lumbia. 




ai) 



12 GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Southern States. — The next group is generally known as 
the Southern States; and includes North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. 

North Central States. — The North Central States are Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, jMinnesota, 
North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and 
Nebraska. 

Plateau States. — The Plateau States, occupying most of 
the great Rocky Mountain Highland, consist of Montana, 
"Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and 
Arizona. 

Pacific States. — The Pacific States are Wasliington, Oregon, 
and California. 

8. The Territories. — The thirteen " Original States " (which 
included the regions now known as the States of Maine, Ver- 
mont, Kentucky, and West Virginia) and California and Texas 
were never Territories; but all the other States were Terri- 
tories before their admission into the Union. Outside of the 
United States, there is one Territory upon the Continent of 
North Auierica, — Alaska,^ an immense region partly within 
the Arctic Circle, whose natural resources are gold, fish, timber, 
and fur-bearing animals; and another in the Pacific Ocean, — 
the Territory of Hawaii, which produces much sugar. (See 
map, p. 19.) 

9. The Colonies. — We own also the Philippine Islands, off 
the coast of Asia, and rule them as a colony. These are trop- 
ical islands containing a total area of land about equal to that 
of Nevada. They are extremely fertile, producing hemp, sugar, 
copra, and tobacco, and possess some mineral resources. Porto 
Rico, one of the important islands of the West Indies, is gov- 
erned as a colony of this country. The United States possesses 
also a number of small islands in the Pacific Ocean, chief of 

1 The Teiritory of Alaska inckides a small strip of land upon the 
Pacific coast, which reaches almost to the northwest corner of the United 
States. 



GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 



13 




Ocean Greyhound 



which are Tutuila and smaller islands of the Samoan group, 
and Guam, the largest of the Ladrones. (See map, p. 19.) 

10. Population. — Of the present population of the United 
States, which numbers over a hundred millions, eleven mil- 
lions within the continuous continental region are Negroes and 
thirty millions are foreign born, or the children of foreign- 
born people. Nearly fp ~ — — =^ 
all of the foreigners 
have come to us from 
Europe, but some have 
come from Canada, 
Mexico, South Amer- 
ica, Asia, and Africa. 
There are also among 
us a quarter of a mil- 
lion aboriginal In- 
dians, and smaller 
numbers of Chinese 
and Japanese. The 

rest of the people in the United States are children of native- 
born whites. Nearly all of the people speak the English 
language, which is the official language of the government. 

11. Immigration. — All the white people in the United States 
who were not themselves immigrants are the offspring of immi- 
grants from Europe. Most of the earliest settlers came from 
England. More recently many thousands have come from Ire- 
land, Germany, and Sweden. Still more recently many thou- 
sands have come from Eussia, Austria, Hungary, and Southern 
European countries, especially Italy. The greatest numbers 
of immigrants have come here during the twenty years preced- 
ing the World War. 

12. Causes of Emigration from Europe. — Europeans have 
come to the United States for many different reasons, but 
chiefly because of the troubles in the Old World and of the 
hope of freedom here. Recently some have come because of 
the wealth-making attractions of the New World. 



14 GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Early Immigrants. — The early immigrants who established 
their lirst settlements here had to endure terrible hardships. 
Many of them died of starvation and of the severity of the 
climate. In these days it is hard to realize what it meant for 
a man to come with a family from the settled conditions of the 
Old World to the loneliness and struggles of the New World. 
All the Negroes are descended from slaves stolen in Africa. 
They were brought here to do menial work, or work that the 
whites were unable to do because of the climate. 

13. Effect of Emigration upon Europe. — The discovery of the 
New World not only made a great nation here in the United 
States and led to the esta])lishment of other nations in Central 
and South America, but it also greatly benefited the Old World. 
Emigration has been the means of relieving European nations 
of their discontented people ; and the Old World itself is more 
prosperous now than it was four hundred years ago, when 
Columbus discovered the New World. The increased supply 
of materials for manufacture taken from the natural resources 
of America is one of the causes that have made food, cotton, 
timber, and metals much cheaper than they ever were in 
Europe before the settlement of this land. Such are the bene- 
fits of international trade. 

14. The Indian Tribes. — At the time when Columbus dis- 
covered the New World, it was inhabited by a race of men who 
have always been called Indians because the great discoverer 
thought that in finding this land he had found India. The In- 
dians who were then within the present territory of the United 
States formed many small bands and wandered about through 
large regions of territory, constantly fighting with one another. 
The coming of the whites compelled the various Indian tribes 
to be much more friendly because of the alliances among them 
that were necessary to enable them to fight the whites. Some 
of the colonies were always friendly with the Indians. Of 
these, Pennsylvania was especially peaceful until the time of 
the French and Indian War. There were a few Indian tribes 
with settled habitationSj the most famous being the Iroc][uois. 



GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 



15 



Resemblances and Differences. — These native Indian tribes 
differed very greatly from one another. They spoke many 
different languages or different dialects. Some of their gov- 
ernments had a general resemblance, and their customs and 
religions were somewhat alike, but they lived in those violent 
conditions of personal feuds and tribal warfare which are the 
outcome of intelligent savagery. 




White Settlers Trading with Indians 

15. Origin of the Indians. — Although the origin of the In- 
dians is uncertain, there is reason to believe that the Indian 
race has been in the world for thirty thousand years and more, 
a period ten times as long as that of civilized history in Europe. 
The geographical origin^ of the Indians is probably the same as 
that of the races from which the white men have sprung in 
Asia and Europe ; that is, they are probably descended from 

1 This interesting question is discussed by Professor W. Z. Ripley in his 
Races of Europe, and by Professor F. S. Dellenbaugh in his North Americans 
of Yesterday. 



It) 



GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the people who msnaj thousand years ago lived along the mar- 
gins of the lands stretching northwest and southeast from the 
Malay Peninsula to the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland. 
16. Present Condition of the Aborigines. — The effect of the 
settling of the New World by Europeans was slowly and stead- 
ily to crowd the Indians westward. After the white men came, 
there was considerably less fighting than before among the 
Indians themselves, since the Indians formed alliances with 
one another to resist the newcomers. In addition to the 



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Spearing Fish 

quarter of a million Indians who have retained many of their 
native characteristics, there are now many people in the United 
States who are partly of Indian blood. In the course of the 
centuries, many Indians have become civilized and have 
learned to live as the white people live. There are now five 
thousand Indian farmers in New York State, American citi- 
zens as truly as are the descendants of the English and of the 
Germans who have come hither three thousand miles across 
the sea. 

Indians on Reservations. — Separated by themselves in the 



GEOGRAPHY OF OUR COUNTRY 17 

Indian communities, there are now about one hundred thousand 
Indians on reservations or other lands set apart for them by 
the American government. The present plan is to have Indian 
families live upon farms or engage in industry in cities just 
like all the rest of our people; and it is working successfully. 
The white men have made our country a land of peace for the 
Indians. Stopping their wars with one another was the first 
essential in civilizing them. 

MAP STUDY 

1. Turn to the map, p. 19, and note the location of the North 
American continent. 

2. Tell in what direction from North America is each of the other 
great continents. 

^. Compare the area of the United States with that of other great 
nations. 

4. Upon the map of the United States, p. 11, locate the various 
States. 

5. Compare the relative areas of Texas and Utah, 3 to 1 ; Ohio and 
Massachusetts, 5 to 1 ; New York and West Virginia, 2 to 1 ; Georgia 
and Connecticut, 12 to 1; California and Kentucky, 4 to 1 ; New 
Mexico and Rhode Island, 100 to 1. Make other comparisons. 

6. Discuss the locations of the States with respect to — 

(a) Climate. (c) Waterways. 

(b) Oceans. • (d) Mountains. 

7. Study the map with reference to other facts mentioned in the 
text. 



PART II 



OUR HISTORY 



17. Christopher Columbus. — Until about four hundred years 
ago, all civilized people lived in that part of the earth which 
we now call the " Old World." 

In 1492 Christopher" Columbus, an Italian sailor whose name 
means " the Christ-bearing dove," secured permission from the 
Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella, to try to 
reach India by sailing westward. With their royal protection 
and financial assistance, he sailed westward across the Atlantic 
Ocean until he reached an island off the 
coast of this " New World." ^ 

18. Discovery of the New World. — This 
discovery of America was the result of 
many years of persistent endeavor on the 
part of Columbus to organize an expedi- 
tion, for he believed the stories of the 
existence of strange lands far to the 
west of Spain and east of India, and 
dreamed that he might find those lands, 
bring their inhabitants to a knowledge 
of the Christian religion, and secure vast 
wealth for himself as their ruler. 

The Start. — Columbus believed the 
earth to be round, — not flat, as most people then thought it to 
be, — and he hoped that those far-away lands, of which tradi- 
tion had told him, might prove to be the borders of Cathay, 
then the region of romance and wealth in the imaginations 
of all men. He hoped to set forth on his great voyage of 

1 This was probably that island in the Bahamas which is now called 
Watling Island. (See Bahamas, on map, p. 19.) 

18 




Columbus's Ship 




(19) 



20 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



discovery with a magnificent expedition; but the ships in 
which he actually sailed were three small vessels, carrying all 
together only ninety men. 

Other Voyages of Columbus. — In the ten years that followed 
the discovery, Columbus made three other voyages to America. 
]Many other adventurous sailors followed in his path, so that 
all Europe knew before long that a vast New World had been 
found. 

19. Discovery of the Mississippi River by De Soto. — After the 
discovery of America, in 1492, expedition after expedition was 




De Soto's JNIarch 



sent out by Spain, France, and Great Britain to seize territory 
for their sovereigns. One of these expeditions was that of 
De Soto, who came with six hundred warriors in brilliant array 
to take possession of the southern part of what is now the United 
States. Nearly every man m that expedition perished from 
hunger, hardships, and fights with the Indians. De Soto him- 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 21 

self died of a fever, and was buried in the waters of the Missis- 
sippi River, which he had discovered in 1541. 

20. The Colony of Sir Walter Raleigh. — A century after the 
time of Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh, a statesman of the great 
Queen Elizabeth of England, formed a desire to establish an 
English colony on the shores of North America, and spent 
vast sums of money in sending out ships with settlers. His 
most important effort was to establish, in 1584, a colony upon 
the island of Roanoke, on the coast of the Carolinas. This 
seemed likely to succeed, until two years had intervened, when 
additional settlers were sent out, who found that the original 
settlement had been entirely deserted. Whether the colonists 
were killed by the Indians or were carried away captive by 
them, no one knows to this day. 

21. A Century of Adventure. — From 1492 to 1607 many dar- 
ing men endeavored to take possession of that part of North 
America which is now the United States. These adventurers 
came mainly from England, Spain, and France. The result of 
all their activity was that, in 1607, the Spanish held not only 
nearly all of South America, but Central America, Mexico, the 
West Indies, and the southern and western parts of what is 
now our territory, while France claimed Canada and the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and England controlled most of the seacoast 
upon the Atlantic. This period of heroic adventures upon sea 
and land prepared the European nations for the more serious 
but less attractive enterprises of permanent settlement and 
systematic pursuit of agriculture and the fisheries. 

22. Jamestown, the First Successful English Settlement. — With 
the year 1607 began the period of successful settlement by the 
English. From that year to this, the immigration of Europeans 
has never ceased. The little band that came to Jamestown 
from England numbered only a hundred and five.* Their 
leader, Captain John Smith, by his courage, firmness, and in- 
dustry, enabled the colony to succeed where all earlier colonies 

1 Some authorities say one hundred and forty. See Doyle, English ColO' 
nies, Virginia. 



5252 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



had failed. He compelled the colonists to work, made treaties 
with the Indians, explored the Atlantic coast, and secured 
more colonists and additional supplies from England. 

23. The Founding of New Amsterdam (New York). — In 1609 
Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the Dutch, dis- 
covered the Hudson River. The Dutch began to make a settle- 
ment at New Amsterdam, soon afterwards. In 1664, when Peter 
Stuyvesant was governor of New Amsterdam, the English took 




Early View of New Amsterdam 

possession of it, greatly to the regret of the governor, who was, 
nevertheless, unable to offer any resistance, since the Dutch 
seemed pleased with the idea of English rule. The name was 
then changed to New York. Even at this time New York was 
a cosmopolitan city, in which no less than twenty-five different 
languages were .spoken. People from all the different countries 
of the world were already coming to the beautiful trading city. 
24. The Pilgrims at Plymouth. — The little group of settlers 
who, in 1620, landed from the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massa- 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



23 




The Mayflower 



chusetts, numbered but one hundred and two. These first New 
England people were known as " Pilgrims " because, in 1608, 
they had fled from England to Holland to avoid religious per- 
secution. In Holland they learned 
from the Dutch many impor- 
tant lessons in matters of re- 
ligion and government. 
From Holland they 
came to America. 

Hardships. — Most of 
the settlers were very 
poor. The winters 
were long and se- 
vere, and such as 
the immigrants had 
never known at 
home. Eew of the 
settlers understood how to farm land. Sometimes the Indians 
were friendly to them, and sometimes they were unfriendly. 
Their variable moods fearfully increased the difficulties of 
the settlers. These early days were days of heroism. At 
Plymouth, Captain Myles Standish was the soldier whose 
brave deeds helped to maintain the small colony. 

25. The Emigration of the Puritans from England. — From 1628 
to 1640, after the settlement of Plymouth was well established, 
there was a very large emigration of people from England. 
Twenty thousand came to Massachusetts, founding Salem, 
Boston, Cambridge, and many other towns. 

Strife beticeen Puritans and Cavaliers. — The cause of this 
emigration from the home country was religious and political 
strife between the Puritans and the Cavaliers. The Puri- 
tans believed in giving the Church of England, which was 
supported by the national government, a simpler ritual and 
in making it more useful for the betterment of society. 
They believed also in requiring the king, as the head of the 
government, to obey the will of the nation as expressed by 



24 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Parliament. On the other hand, the Cavaliers believed in the 
" divine right " of the king to rule as he pleased. After 1640 
this strife took the form of actual war. Then the Puritans, 
who hitherto had felt too much oppressed in England to be 
willing to remain there, began to take great interest in home 
matters, fighting in the army against the king, and finally 
securing complete control of the government in the period of 
the English Commonwealth (1649-1660). 

26. The Emigration of the Cavaliers. — The same reason that 
caused the Puritans to cease emigrating to America led thou- 
sands of the Cavaliers to leave England. They found refuge 
in Virginia, especially in the period from 1650 to 1670. Thus, 
in the early days of our history, Massachusetts and Virginia 
developed decided differences of opinion. These differences 
had important results in our later history. (See p. 48.) 

27. William Penn and Pennsylvania. — After the settlement 
of Virginia and Massachusetts, many colonists came over to 
various parts of the country. One of the most interesting of 
the colonies was that begun in Pennsylvania by William Penn 
in 1682. In 1683 he founded Philadelphia. The father of 
William Penn was a wealthy English admiral, while his mother 
was a Dutch lady. In his youth, William Penn became a 
Quaker. In his travels through Germany, he saw the terrible 
suffering of the people as a result of the Thirty Years' War 
over religious matters. 

Emigration of Quakers. — He raised money in England to 
pay the passage of thousands of his Quaker brethren across the 
ocean. The Quakers, or " Friends," as they style themselves, 
were being persecuted in England just as the^ Puritans had 
been persecuted fifty years before. They sought peace in the 
New World, and found it. This colony grew in numbers very 
rapidly. Before the War of Independence, the Quaker city of 
Philadelphia was the largest in the New World. 

28. Oglethorpe and Georgia. — The last of the thirteen English 
colonies to be settled was Georgia, where General Oglethorpe 
was the leader. He was a wealthy man who pitied the condi- 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



25 



tions of the poor in England, whom it was then the custom 
to imprison for debt. He made a successful settlement at 
Savannah, Georgia, in 1733; and lived long enough to see 
Georgia, as one of the united colonies, secure independence 
from Great Britain. 

29. Conditions of Life in the Colonial Period. — After the settle- 
ment of Pennsylvania in 1682, the people of all the colonies 
were generally comfortable 
in their homes, for they 
were able to earn fair liveli- 
hoods from their occupa- 
tions. The descendants of 
the original colonists had 
grown accustomed to the 
climate and to the condi- 
tions of the various regions 
that they inhabited. They 
had learned how to raise 
crops, how to build ships, 
how to make cloth, and how 
to secure freedom from In- 
dian warfare, by conquering 
the natives, or by driving 
them away, or by making 
treaties with them. In 
1700 there were nearly three ^^^- 
hundred thousand people of 
European descent in this ^^^^^^^^ ^^'^"^^^ 

country. All of them lived within a few miles of the seacoast. 

Preparations for Self-government. — The period from the 
year 1682 to the year 1776 is known as the " colonial period,'' 
because during this time the settlements were governed as 
separate colonies of the English crown. During this time the 
colonists were learning how to govern themselves in local 
affairs, and were preparing for self-government as an inde- 
pendent nation. 




26 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

30. Wars of the Colonial Period. — During the colonial period. 
England was constantly at war with France, both in the Old 
World and in the New. Because the Atlantic Coast was subject 
to England, while Canada and the Great Lakes were subject 
to France, there were many wars. The English and their 
colonists fought against the French and against most of the 
Indian tribes, though in these wars the Iroquois Indians sup- 
ported the English. As the result of these wars, England 
drove the French out of Canada. The greatest and final 
victory was won at Quebec in 1759, where both the French 
General Montcalm and the English General Wolfe were killed. 

Effect of the Wars. — The effect of these wars on the Ameri- 
can colonists was very important. The colonists learned how 
to fight well ; the people of the different colonies, and of 
many nationalities were brought together, so that they became 
friendly; there was an extension of colonial territory both 
west and north ; and the Indians were driven farther west and 
were considerably reduced in numbers. 

Population. — Some of the Indians became civilized farmers 
and traders. At the close of the colonial period, there were 
two and three quarters millions of people in the English colo- 
nies, of whom over half a million were Negro slaves. Some 
of the colonists had immigrated to the New World, but most 
of them were the descendants of earlier immigrants. They 
were a hardy people, active and ambitious, and had become 
largely self-governing. They were comparatively free from 
England in matters of religion, but they were restless because 
of the rule of the home government. 

31. Colonial Governments. — In 1775, the time of the cut- 
break of the War of Independence, the thirteen colonies had 
various kinds of governments, though all were subordinate to 
the king of England. 

Charter Colonies. — Two of the colonies had royal charters 
that made them very democratic and independent. They elected 
their own governors, councils, and assemblies, and had greater 
freedom than any of the other colonies. These two colonies 







85 Longitude 80 West from 7 5 Greenwich 70 

(27) 



28 HISTOBY OF OUR COUNTRY 

were Connecticut and Ehode Island. One colony, Massachu- 
setts, had a charter and many special rights, but was ruled by 
a governor appointed by the king. 

Royal Colonies. — Seven of the colonies had no political 
charters, but were under governors appointed by the king. 
They elected their own assembly, while the governor appointed 
the council. These colonies were New Hampshire, New York, 
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia. 

Proprietary Colonies. — The remaining colonies were proprie- 
tary, which means that they were ruled by proprietors who 
originally owned the land. These colonies, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, and Maryland, had charters which allowed them to 
elect their own assemblies, but the proprietors appointed the 
governors. The iirst two of these colonies had the same gov- 
ernor, but different assemblies. Of all the colonists, the people 
of Maryland had the least freedom. 

32. Causes of the Revolutionary War. — The great wars be- 
tween England and France in the eighteenth century, which 
were carried on both in Europe and in America, cost the Eng- 
lish government immense sums of money, and the English 
merchants wished to monopolize the most profitable trade with 
the American colonies. These two facts led the British govern- 
ment to levy taxes upon the English colonies, and finally to 
forbid the colonists to trade directly with any country but 
Great Britain. Restrictions were even placed upon the trade 
of the colonies among themselves. 

No Taxation luitJiout Representation. — As the colonists them- 
selves were given no voice in these measures, they weie much 
offended at these laws and requirements of the British govern- 
ment. T'hey felt that they, too, were Englishmen, and they 
believed in the English principle that the citizens should have 
a voice in the government. In every part of the colonies a cry 
went up, " No taxation without representation." This meant 
that, because the colonies were not represented in the British 
Parliament, they should not be taxed at all. In other words, 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



29 



the colonists claimed to be subjects not of Parliament, but of 
the king as head of the British empire ; and the king had no 
taxing powers. 

33. T^e Stamp Act and Other Tax Laws. — In 1760 George III 
came to the throne of England.^ He meant to be master of 
England and of all her colonies and dependencies. By bribery, 
royal prerogative,^ and various other means, he secured control 
of Parliament, and set about making plans to reduce the colo- 
nies to subjection. 

Eesistarice to the Stamp Act. — In 1765 the Stamp Act was 
passed. This was a measure requiring all kinds of legal docu- 
ments (such as deeds, mortgages, promissory notes, ship clear- 
ance papers, and bills of sale) 
and newspapers published in 
America to be stamped by rev- 
enue officers at a cost varying 
from a few pence to several 
pounds. It was such a tax upon 
colonial business as threatened 
the prosperity of the people. 
Moreover, it was a tax neither 
provided for in the colonial 
charters nor fixed by the custom 
of years. The colonists abso- 
lutely refused to use the stamped 




paper, and business, for want 



Benjamin Franklin 
of legality, was almost at an end. Moreover, the people ceased 
to import goods from England, and the wares sent to America 



1 The rulers of England during the colonial days from the time of Raleigh 
were Elizabeth, .James I, Charles I (who was beheaded), Oliver Cromwell (who 
was Lord Protector during the time of the Commonwealth) , Charles II, James II, 
William III and Mary (who were placed on the throne by the English Revolu- 
tion of 1688), Anne, George I, George II, and George III. Elizabeth and 
Cromwell were perhaps the greatest rulers England ever had. 

2 This means that the English crown claims all powers not expressly dele- 
gated to Parliament. At this time the colonies were chiefly governed by 
*' royal prerogative," 



30 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



were returned. The protests of the English manufacturers and 
the influence of Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, who was 
at the time in London, led Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act 
in 1766. 

Boston ^'Tea Party. ^^ — But George III and his ministers 
persuaded Parliament to punish the colonists by passing other 

acts.^ In resistance to the 
principle of taxation with- 
out representation, several 
cargoes of tea, which were 
subject to a very light tax, 
were thrown into Boston 
harbor by the citizens dis- 
guised as Indians who made 
up the " Tea Party." The 
other colonies also resisted 
the new laws promptly and 
vigorously. 

Boston Port Bill. — At 
last the king determined to 
ruin Boston and thereby to 
frighten all the other sections of the country 
into submission. By the Boston Port Bill the 
harbor was closed to all shipping. Besides this, 
many British soldiers were quartered in the city, to 
awe the inhabitants. But the people of Massachusetts 
could not be frightened, and many of the colonists 
elsewhere offered to assist them, by donations of 
money and merchandise, to endure the oppression. 

34. The Leaders in Resistance. — Before the breaking out of 
armed resistance, there arose several leaders who by voice and 
pen urged their friends and neighbors to assert " the rights of 




1 The more important of these laws and related events were : Stamp Act, 
1765; Townshend Acts, 1767; Boston "Massacre," 1770; North Carolina, 
"Insurrection against Governor Tryon," 1771; Boston "Tea Party," 1773; 
Boston Port Bill, mi; Quebec Act, 1774; Newfoundland Fisheries Act, 1775 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 31 

Englishmen." The most important of these rights had fre- 
quently been exercised in English history. This was the right 
to make armed resistance to the officers of the king when the 
subjects believed the king was doing wrong Among these 
leaders were Patrick Henry of Virginia and James Otis of 
Massachusetts, both great orators; Samuel Adams of Massa- 
chusetts, a politician and organizer; Benjamin Franklin of 
Pennsylvania, printer, journalist, author, scientist, and states- 
man ; and John Dickinson, a lawyer and writer. 

Organization for Resistance. — In one way and another, these 
men, with numerous associates, organized the spirit of opposi- 
tion and established ^^ committees of correspondence," "Sons of 
Liberty," "committees of safety," and "non-importation soci- 
eties," so that when the people were sufficiently aroused to 
make armed resistance, they were also ready to overthrow their 
old governments and to set up new ones. 

35. The Patriots and Loyalists. — By no means all of the 
American colonists were ready in 1774 to make armed resist- 
ance against the enforcement of the tax laws by the king's 
officers. There were many different nationalities and races 
represented in the population, — English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, 
Swedes, Finns, Germans, French Huguenots, Negroes, and 
others in small numbers. They were often widely separated 
from one another in isolated communities, and news traveled 
very slowly among them. 

Loyalists or Tories. — Many of them were recent immigrants, 
full of Old World ideas, including superstitious reverence for 
kings. A few were closely dependent upon or related to the 
royal officers in the various colonies. Some were merchants 
with important business connections with the people of Eng- 
land. Of the white population, fully one third were either 
opposed or indifferent to the idea of resisting the power of 
king and Parliament. They were known as Loyalists or Tories, 
and many of them were ready to help the British army put 
down the armed resistance of their fellow-countrymen, who 
were generally known as Patriots. 



32 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



36. Steps to Independence. — In 1774 a Congress of delegates 
from must of the colonies was summoned to meet at Philadel- 




phia, to pro- 
test against the 
measures of Great 
Britain. Next year 
Congress met again 
and decided to fight 
jainst Great Britain 
and to appoint a com- 
mander in chief for the 
armies to be raised. 
During the French and 
Indian War, a young 
Virginian of character, abil- 
ity, and wealth, named George 
Washington, had learned the pro- 
fession of arms; and now he was 
chosen to lead the American forces. 
The colonists in the year 1775 were not seek- 
jL ing independence from England, but had deter- 
mined to secure the right of self-government, which means the 
right of each citizen to vote for his choice of rulers and lawmakers. 
Declaration of Independence. — After a year of fighting, a 
majority of the people came to see that, as a military necessity, 
a new nation must be formed here. In 1776 Congress published 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



3^ 



tlie Declaration of Independence (pp. 101-104), which stated 
the reasons why the colonies could no longer endure the rule of 
George III, his ministers, and Parliament. 

37. Early Progress of the War. — In 
1775 was fought the great battle of 
Bunker Hill, near Boston, in which the 
colonists, though defeated, showed the 
English that they were stubborn fighters. 
Soon after this great battle. General 
George Washington took command of the 
army and was its leader until the close 
of the war. 

In 1776 a great victory was won on 
Christmas night i at Trenton, New 

the Encrlish soldiers 




Liberty Bell 



Jersey, over 
man Hessians 
fight for him 
were very poor, 
against them, 
derful persist- 
through all the 
In 1777, in 
great battles 
invasion from 
completely de- 



and the Ger- 
whom the English king had hired to 
in America. The colonists, however, 
and soon great armies were sent 
so that it was only by the most won- 
ence that the resistance was sustained 
trying years that followed. 
New York State, occurred the two 
of Saratoga, in which the English 
Canada under General Burgoyne was 
feated. 

In 1777-1778 the American army 
passed a terrible winter of 
hunger and cold at Valley 
Forge in Pennsylvania, 
where George Washington 
himself, though a very 
rich man, endured all the 
privations of the common soldiers, and generously spent his 
own wealth for their relief. 

38. The French Alliance. — In 1778 the French also were 
ready to fight against their old enemies, the English, and. 




Bunker Hill Monument 



34 



HISTORY OF OUR CO US TRY 



through the influence "of Benjamin Franklin, made a treaty 
with the Continental Congress by -which they agreed to help 
the American cause with men, money, and ships. 

1779-1781. — With the coming of the French, the military 
operations were extended into the South, and at Cowpens, in 
South Carolina, the Southern soldiers under General Xathanael 
Greene won a brilliant victory over the English, in the winter 
of 1781. Xot until the fall of 1781, however, was the decisive 
victory gained. At that time, with the assistance of the French 
soldiers and ships, General Washington was able to compel the 
surrender of Lord Cornwallis, the English commander at York- 
town, Virginia. This siege of Yorktown was the last impor- 
tant military operation of the Eevolutionary War. It was 
followed soon after by the withdrawal of the British armies 
from Philadelphia and from Xew York and of their ships 
from the Atlantic Coast. 

39. General View of the War. — The Eevolutionary War 
lasted over seven years, during which time many battles were 

fought. England sent over 
thousands of soldiers and many 
war vessels. Among the great- 
est heroes of this war was Com- 
modore John Paul Jones, who 
won great victories at sea. 

CJiaracter of the War. — From 
a military point of view, the 
Eevolutionary War was one of 
the most interesting in the his- 
tory of mankind. During almost 
its entire course, the British had 
possession of the two largest 
American cities, Xew York and 
Philadelphia; and they won 
many battles. The most suc- 
cessful fighting of the Americans was in the open country. 
The campaigns of George AVashington Avere managed with 




. 1^ -y'Vv''^^ - 

John Paul Joxes 



HISTORY OF OUR COUXTRT 35 

the ntmost caution and skill. He worked against almost 
insurmountable difficulties, as his men were constantly en- 
listing and deserting, and Congress was always short of the 
money that was so necessary to pay for their food and 
wages. 

Emigration of Tories. — During the war and at its close, 
many of the people who believed that the colonies should not 
be separated from Great Britain emigrated to Canada or to 
England. 

40. The New Nation. — In 1783 a treaty of peace was made 
between the United States and Great Britain, by which the 
independence of the United States was recognized by the 
mother country. The new nation made a beginning with 
the thirteen " Original States," and with all the lands extend- 
ing west of those States as far as the ^lississippi Eiver. In 
this region there were, however, British forts not yet sur- 
rendered, and many hostile Indians. In the course of the 
next fifteen years, the British withdrew their gan-isons from 
these forts, and the United States undertook the conquest 
of the soil from the Indians. Our people traveled over 
the Appalachian Moimtains down into the fertile valleys 
of the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers, and soon 
had settled therein, to the number of several hundred 
thousand. 

41 . The Constitution. — The new nation of the United States 
found it very difficult to establish a good form of government. 
It was heavily in debt, and each of the States regarded itself 
as an independent nation, not responsible for the general debts 
contracted by Congress for the prosecution of the war. At 
last, after much discussion, a convention of delegates fi*om all 
the States agreed upon the Constitution that is at present 
enforced in the United States. This was framed in 1 787, and 
was ratified by a sufficient number of States to put it fully in 
operation by 1789, when George Washington was inaugurated 
President. This Constitution is a system of political rights, 
privileges, and opportunities for all the States, for ail the 



86 



HISTOBY OF OUR COUNTRY 



individual citizens, and for the nation as a whole ; it has been 
wonderfully successful in its practical operation. (See pages 
105 to 108.) 

Effect of Adoption of Constitution. — Its adoption was followed 
by a rapid revival of business, which had suffered almost as 




Longitude 



much from political troubles after the war was over as it had 
suffered from such troubles and from the military losses during 
the progress of the war. 

Origin of our Government. — Our American government is 
a product of long and slow growth. Very little of it is origi- 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



37 



nal with us. The most important original feature of American 
democracy is the complete separation of church and state; that 
is, of government and religion. This for j^ears had been the 
dream and desire of many philosophers and statesmen of the 
Old World. Most of our principles and forms of government 
came with our first settlers from England. Among these were 
the principle of representation, the town meeting, and the 
county government. Most of the truths embodied in the Con- 
stitution came from England, though the idea itself of a Con- 
stitution as the fundamental law of the nation came from 
France. The secret ballot came from Holland. 

42. The Administrations of Washington (1789-1797). — Early 
in the administration of our first President, the only one ever 
elected unanimously, there appeared two leaders, Alexander 
Hamilton and Thomas 
Jefferson, who held oppos- 
ing views regarding the 
Constitution of the United 
States. Hamilton was a 
Federalist who believed 
in a strong central gov- 
ernment. Jefferson was 
a Democratic-Republican 
who believed in keeping 
the States and individuals 
strong and the nation relar 
tively weak. 

National Bank. — Ham- 
ilton, who was Secretary 
of the Treasury in the 
cabinet of Washington, 
persuaded Congress to 
assume the payment of all the debts of the old Confedera- 
tion and of the States, that had been incurred in carry- 
ing on the Revolutionary War. To provide funds, taxes 
were levied on imported goods. A great national bank was 




GKoHciK Washington 



38 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



established to assist in carrying out the financial plans of the 
Federalists. 

Foreign Affairs. — Washington successfully urged his prin- 
ciple of neutrality in all Old World disputes, so that aid was 
denied to France which (under a very different government) 
had helped us in the days of our war with England. Treaties 
were made with England and Spain. 

Indian Wars and Whisky Insurrection. — General Anthony 
Wayne, a Revolutionary hero, subdued several Indian tribes 
beyond the Ohio. The national government, needing a regular 
and sufficient income, enforced an excise (whisky) tax, despite 
popular opposition. 

43. The Administration of John Adams (1797-1801). — The 
next President was a strong Federalist. During his time there 
was much discussion regarding the rights and privileges of 
foreign-born citizens and the relative powers of the national 
and the State governments. 

44. The Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809). — 
Jefferson emphasized the importance of "States' rights" as 

the means of protecting and 
promoting the interests of the 
individual citizens. He be- 
lieved in democracy rather than 
aristocracy, the rule of all by 
the majority rather than by 
the best. 

Louisiana Purchase. — It was 
in 1803, in the administration 
of the first Democratic-Repub- 
lican President, that we bought 
from Napoleon Bonaparte, then 
First Consul of France, the 
province of Louisiana, an area 
very much larger than that of 
the thirteen original colonies 
Thomas Jefferson and equal to all that we had 




HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



39 




United States in 1803 



owned up to the time of its purchase. The Louisiana province 
comprised nearly one million square miles, and cost ^15,000,000. 
This region included in 
its limits the area now oc- 
cupied by the States of 
Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis- 
souri, Iowa, North Dakota, 
South Dakota, Nebraska, 
Kansas, and large parts 
of Minnesota, Montana, 
Wyoming, Colorado, and 
Oklahoma. 

Embargo Ad. — Because of the great " Napoleonic wars " 
then raging between England and France, the President and 
Congress placed upon all American shipping an "embargo" 
that forbade our ships from clearing port for foreign lands, to 
prevent their seizure by war vessels of the great nations. 
This embargo nearly ruined our commerce. 

The War loith the Pirate States. — The first of the foreign 
wars of this country was with pirates who were protected by 
the half-civilized governments of Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and 
Tripoli, the so-called Barbary States of northern Africa border- 
ing on the Mediterranean Sea. They favored piracy as a means 
of national revenue and because many of their chief citizens 
were pirates. The European seamen were unable to conquer 
these African pirates; but in battle after battle on the high 
seas, we defeated the pirates and put an end to piracy which 
had existed for centuries. The final treaty abolished piracy in 
1805. Among the heroes of this naval war were Bainbridge, 
Decatur, and Preble. 

45. The Administrations of James Madison (1809-1817). — 
Two new leaders appeared early in the Presidency of Madison: 
one, Henry Clay of Kentucky, representing the " new West," 
by which was meant the great region beyond the Appalachian 
Mountains ; and the other, Daniel Webster, who soon became 
known as the great "expounder of the Constitution." 



40 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Impressment of Seamen. — Because of the impressment of 
seamen, that is, taking by force from American vessels sailors 
of British birth, and because of other disputes with Great 
Britain, Clay urged the nation to enter upon a contest with the 
" mother country," 

War of 1812. — The real causes of the War of 1812 w^re 
European rather than American. England was fighting with 
France, then ruled by the great soldier Napoleon Bonaparte. 
On the sea Great Britain was supreme, but Napoleon had 
possession of the continent of Europe. France said that no 
other country should trade wdth Great Britain, and Great 
Britain said that no other country should trade with France. 
The Americans, as good men of business, wished to trade with 
both countries. The conditions of life on British naval vessels 
were so hard that sometimes whole crews of British citizens 
would desert to American vessels. These British subjects 
would then take out naturalization papers^ as American citi- 
zens. Great Britain declared that a man was a citizen of the 
country in which he was born, and asserted the right to re- 
move all deserters. 

Heroes of the War. — Among the heroes of the War of 1812 
were General (later President) William Henry Harrison, Com- 
modore Lawrence, General (later President) Andrew Jackson, 
and Commodore Perry, who won a famous victory on Lake Erie. 

Course of the War. — In the campaigns on land the Americans 
and the British were about equally successful, though the Brit- 
ish seized the capital city, Washington, and partly burned it. 
The last great land battle was fought at New Orleans in 1815, 
after the treaty of peace had been signed." On the sea the 

1 The United States has always been very friendly to foreign-born persons. 
The American principle that a man is a citizen of the country to which he 
attaches himself is not yet recognized as an international principle. The 
foreign idea is, once a Frenchman or an Englishman or a German, always a 
Frenchman or an Englishman or a German. 

2 Even as recently as 1815 it took a month or more for news to reach Amer- 
ica from Europe. It took two weeks more for news to travel from Washing- 
ton to New Orleans. The British and Americans would not have fought at 
New Orleans if the telegraph had been in existence at that time. 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



41 



Americans were very much more successful than the British, 
and some of the greatest naval exploits in the world's history 
took place during the war. 

Tariff of 1816. — In 1815 Napoleon, then Emperor of the 
French, was overthrown at the battle of Waterloo. This event 
was followed by great activity in English manufacturing. In 
1816, to prevent our markets from being flooded by English 
products, an important tariff act was passed by Congress, 
imposing a duty on imported cotton and woolen goods. 




Perry's Victory on Lake Erie 

46. The Administrations of James Monroe (1817-1825). — The 
last President who had taken part in the War of Indepen- 
dence was James Monroe, who, like Madison, was a political 
disciple of Jefferson. 

Purchase of Florida. — In the year 1819, at the cost of 
$5,000,000, we bought Florida from the Spanish government. 

Tlie Missouri Compromise. — During the period before the 
United States became an independent nation, the people both 
in the North and in the South owned slaves. In fact, they 
owned not only Negro slaves, but also white bondservants. 
The custom of holding whites in bondage was gradually dying 



42 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

out, but that of holding Negroes continued. Kegroes were 
especially valuable as agricultural workers m the Southern 
States, and in these States the entire industrial system finally 
came to be established upon the basis of Negro slavery. One 
result was that the Southern slave States wished other slave 
States to be admitted to the Union. In 1818 the Territory of 
Missouri desired admission as a slave State. The free-labor 
States were opposed to the admission of Missouri, but in 1820 
a compromise, now known as the Missouri Compromise, was 
arranged by which Missouri came into the Union as a slave- 
labor State in 1821 ; but in all the rest of the Louisiana pur- 
chase north of 36° 30' slavery was prohibited. Maine came 
into the Union as a free-labor State in 1820. 

Monroe Doctrine. — In 1823 the Monroe Doctrine was pro- 
claimed by the President. This was an announcement to the 
Old World that the United States would resent any interfer- 
ence by European powers in the affairs of the New World. 

47. The Administration of John Quincy Adams (1825-1829). 
— The sixth President was the son of the second. During his 
administration there was constant factional strife. Adams 
could not be reelected, but came back to Washington from 
Massachusetts as a member of the House of Representatives 
in Congress, where he did magnificent service in defending 
the right of petition in the interest of Negro freedom. 

48. The Administrations of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). — 
Four Presidents are usually regarded as having exerted espe- 
cially great influence upon our political development, — Wash- 
ington, Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln. Of these, Jackson 
represented the spirit of freedom, equality, and democracy 
developed in the "new West." He believed that the majority 
of all the people rather than the best people should rule ; that 
is, he believed in democracy rather than in aristocracy. 

Webster on the Constitution. — In the eventful administration 
of Jackson, Webster expounded in the Senate his views as to 
the true meaning of the Constitution as an instrument upon 
which to establish a strong government for the nation. 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 43 

Nullification in South Carolina. — In a State convention in 
1832, South Carolina proclaimed the national tariff law null 
and void ; but Jackson sent the navy and army to the State 
and compelled the people to obey the general government. 
The antislavery sentiment of the North, in which section 
Negro slavery, widespread before the Revolutionary War, had 
disappeared, now took definite form in the active measures of 
the Abolitionists. 

Abolition of Bank of United States. — Perhaps the most im- 
portant action taken by Jackson during his administrations 
was the abolition of the great National Bank, which in his 
judgment had become too influential in political affairs. The 
ruin of the Bank was followed by the development of State 
banks, some of which conducted their affairs so badly as to 
help bring on a general financial depression; known in our 
history as the "panic of 1837." 

49. The Administration of Martin Van Buren (1837-1841). — 
So sensitive had Congress now become regarding all questions 
of slavery that a resolution was passed to receive without 
debate all communications upon the subject. In this adminis- 
tration our present national treasury system was established. 

50. The Administration of William Henry Harrison (1841). — 
The next President was a military hero of the War of 1812. 
He died after being but a month in office, a victim of the office 
seekers who preached and practiced the Jacksonian doctrine of 
" rotation in office." Harrison was the first Whig to become 
President. The Whigs, like the Federalists, believed in a 
strong central government. 

51. The Administration of John Tyler (i 841-1845). — The new 
railroads, by making it easy for office seekers to get to Wash- 
ington, were, in this sense, responsible for the succession of 
John Tyler, the Vice President, to the Presidency. In his 
time the Whigs carried through Congress a high protective 
tariff. 

52. The Administration of James Knox Polk (1845-1849). 
— The success of the Democratic candidate, Polk, who 



44 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



sympathized with the upholders of slavery against the AVliig 
candidate Clay, the "great compromiser," was immediately 
followed by the admission into the Union of Texas, which had 
won its independence from Mexico. The resolution for the 

annexation of Texas had 
been passed just before 
the close of Tyler's ad- 
ministration. The area 
annexed included be- 
sides the present State of 
Texas, more than half of 
New Mexico, and parts 
of Wyoming, Colorado, 
Kansas, and Oklahoma. 
TJie Mexican War. — 
In 1846, after the annexa- 
tion of Texas, the people 
of the slave-labor States 
wished to extend their 
territory to the west and 
south. The President 
sent an army officer 
to dispute the south- 
ern boundary of Texas 
with the Mexicans. 
This led to the Mexican 
War. 

Victory of the Americans. — The Southern leaders hoped to 
conquer Mexico and to take possession of a large part of its 
territory. The war with Mexico was of brief duration. The 
Americans won many battles, among the most famous being 
Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco. In 
September, 1847, General Scott took possession of the City of 
Mexico. The result of the war was that Mexico, in return for 
$20,000,000, ceded to the United States a large portion of 
territory, which, with the second Mexican cession (the Gadsden 




ConU* 



Map of Eastern Mexico 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 45 

purchase of 1853) gave us the region where we have now Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, 
and New Mexico. Among the heroes of the Mexican War were 
General Winfield Scott and General Zachary Taylor. 

Oregon Boundary/ Seltlement. — In 1846 the Oregon bound- 
ary dispute with Great Britain was settled. From the Oregon 
country, which was acquired through American exploration 




Entry of General Scott into the City of Mexico 

and settlement, have been formed the States of Washington, 
Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. 

Wilmot Proviso. — In the same year the Wilmot Proviso was 
first presented, — that no new territory of the United States 
should ever be open to slavery. 

Squatter Sovereignty. — In 1848 the doctrine of " Squatter 
Sovereignty" was proclaimed by the Democratic Presidential 
candidate, Lewis Cass, — that the people of each Territory, 
before its admission into the Union as a State, should them- 
selves decide by popular vote whether it should permit slavery. 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRT 47 

53. The Administration of Zachary Taylor (1849-1850). — 

The next President was a hero of the Mexican War, a strong 
and able man, who died but a year after his inauguration. 

54. The Administration of Millard Fillmore (1850-1853). — 
At the death of Taylor, the A^ice President succeeded him. 
The most famous political measures of his time were the Com- 
promise of 1850, which recognized.' the principle of " Squatter 
Sovereignty," and favored a Fugitive Slave Act, denying to 
runaway slaves the right of trial by jury and the right of 
habeas corpus. These measures marked the progress of the 
discussion regarding the presence and extension of slavery in 
the southern section of the country. In 1852 Webster and 
Clay, the great Whig leaders, both died ; and Uncle Toiii's 
Cabin, a famous antislavery novel, written by Harriet Beecher 
Stowe, was first published. In the South, as well as in the 
North, there was great anxiety as to the future of Negro slavery 
and its effect upon the industrial development and social life 
of the slave-holding section of our country. 

55. The Administration of Franklin Pierce (1853-1857). — 
New political parties now began to appear. The Free-soilers 
set forth their principles of ''free soil, free speech, free labor, 
and free men." In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act, based on 
" Squatter Sovereignty," led to fearful conditions of riot and 
bloodshed, so that ''Bleeding Kansas" became the theme of 
discussion throughout the nation. The Republican party was 
formed to include Free-soilers, Abolitionists, and the remain- 
ing Whigs. In 1856, however, the candidate of this reform 
party. General John C. Fremont, soldier and explorer, was 
defeated for the Presidency. 

56. The Administration of James Buchanan (i 857-1 861). — In 
1857 the Supreme Court of the United States declared in the 
Dred Scott case that a slave was personal property and could 
be carried into the free States without depriving his master 
of his right of ownership. The great debate between Doug- 
las and Lincoln followed in Illinois. In it, Lincoln said: "I 
believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave 



48 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and half free. . . It will become all one thing or all the 
other." 

John Brown^s Raid, — In 1859 John Brown, who had become 
famous for the part taken by him in the Kansas struggles, 
tried to start a Negro insurrection in Virginia, but was cap- 
tured, condemned, and executed. His fanatical effort greatly 
angered the Southern slaveholders. 

Secession of Southern States. — In 1860 all the political par- 
ties were greatly excited over the question of slavery, and the 
Democratic party was split into factions. The election of the 
Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, resulted in the seces- 
sion of eleven of the Southern slave States from the Union, — 
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisi- 
ana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, 
in the period from December, 1860, to May, 1861. They 
framed a government called the Confederate States of America, 
of which Jefferson Davis was President. 

Characteristics of the South and the North. — In this action, 
the differences between the Cavalier South and Puritan New 
England culminated. The South had grown aristocratic and 
fond of leisure, of power, and of good living, while the North, 
largely influenced by New England, had grown democratic, 
industrious, rich, and intolerant of the Southern social system. 

57. The Administration of Abraham Lincoln (i 861-1865). 
The War of Secession or the Civil War. — Of the slave States, 
four remained in the Union, — Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, 
and Missouri. West Virginia seceded from Virginia, which had 
joined the Confederate States, and was admitted into the Union 
of States. 

AttacJc on Fort Sumter. — In April, very soon after the 
inauguration of President Lincoln, the great Civil War, be- 
tween the Confederacy and the Union, began in earnest, 
when Port Sumter, in Charleston harbor, was attacked by the 
Confederates. 

Call for Volunteers. — Immediately a call was issued for vol- 
unteers to defend the Union and to compel the seceded States 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



49 



to recognize the authority of the government at Washington, 
Soon an army of Union soldiers was ready for the invasion of 
the Mississippi Valley, while another army was raised to meet 
the Confederates in Virginia. From this time until the last 
year of the war two campaigns were prosecuted, — one in the 
West and South, and the other in Virginia. The Union army 
went down the valley of the Mississippi, fighting tremendous 
battles with the Confederates, year after year. 

1862. — In the early part of 1862 they captured Forts Don- 
elson and Henry. In April was fought the great battle of 
Shiloh, Tennessee, which ended in a Union victory. 




Fort Sumter 

Tlie 3£errimac and the Monitor. — On IMarch 8, 1862, a ter- 
rific battle took place in Hampton Roads, Virginia, between 
the Confederate Merrimac and the Union Monitor, the first iron- 
clads ever used in naval warfare. The result was favorable to 
the Union cause. 

1863. — On July 4, 1863, the great Southern fortress of Vicks- 
burg on the Mississippi River was captured. Though the Union 
army suffered severe defeat by the Confederates at Chicka- 
mauga, Tennessee, they retreated to Chattanooga, where they 
won a brilliant victory under General Grant. The Union army 
then moved southeastward through the mountains, fighting 
many battles, until they reached Atlanta, Georgia. 

1864. — From there, in 1864, Sherman led his army to Sa- 
vannah, tearing up every railroad, and burning all the buildings 
for miles in every direction. The result of this AVestern and 
Southern campaign was to separate Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, 



50 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida from the Confed- 
eracy, and to paralyze agriculture and business throughout 
the entire region. Among the greatest battles was that 
of jSTashville (December, 1864), where the Confederate army 
suffered so great a defeat by the Union army under Thomas 
that thereafter it was unable to accomplish anything in 
opposition to the Union forces. 




Merrimag and Momtor 

Campaign in Virginia, 1861-1865. — The campaign in Vir- 
ginia Avas of a very different nature, for the armies again and 
again fought over the same territory; even more men were 
engaged here than in the Western and Southern campaign, and 
greater battles were fought. In July, 1861, the Union army 
suffered a great defeat at Bull Run, not far from Washington ; 
and in the ''Peninsular Campaign" in 1862 their attempt to 
capture the Confederate capital, Richmond, ended in failure. 
The Southern general, Robert E. Lee, then made an invasion 
of the North, but was stopped by the Union victory at Antie- 
tam, Maryland, in September, 1862. Two more attempts of the 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



51 



Union army to advance on Kichmond resulted in their defeat 
at Fredericksburg in December, 1862, and at Chancellorsville 
in May, 1863. On July 1, 2, and 3 of 1863, Lee's second in- 
vasion of the North was stopped by the tremendous battle of 
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in which nearly one hundred 
thousand men were engaged on each side. Although Lee was 
defeated, the Confederate army in Virginia continued to fight 
for two years more. 




GULF f^J^^'^% F M E X I CO Y\ %'-^ 
The Confederate States 



Siirrevder of Lee. — Finally, after great battles in the Wil- 
derness and the siege and capture of Richmond, General Lee 
was forced to surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Court 
Honse in Virginia in April, 1865. This ended the Civil War. 
It is much to the credit of the South that no rebel bands con- 
tinued to fight in the mountains of Tennessee after the sur- 
render of Lee. It is also to the credit of the soldiers on both 



52 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



sides that, after the war was over, they returned to their homes 
and to such peaceful occupations as they could find. " 

Cost of the War. — The War of Secession was a costly one 
both in lives and in treasure. Nearly a million men perished 
in it, and many who survived were maimed or disabled for life. 
Pensions to the Union soldiers have already been paid to the 
amount of more than $3,000,000,000, and the end is not yet. 
Soldiers' homes for both Union and Confederate soldiers have 




Surrender of General Lee 



been built, the former by the national government, and the 
latter by the Southern States and by popular subscriptions. It 
is estimated that the cost of the war in money fell little short 
of $10,000,000,000. This includes the large sums of money 
borrowed to help put State troops in the field, and the great 
loss of the Southern States, by the destruction of buildings and 
other property. 

Emancipation of Slaves. — The South lost also the value of 
$2,000,000,000 in slaves set free by President Lincoln's Eman- 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



b'6 



cipation Proclamation in 1863. Their freedom was confirmed 
by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to 
the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1865, 1868, 
and 1870. (See p. 108.) 

Effects of the War. — Yet the conflict was inevitable and its 
result has been almost Avholly for the good of the American 
people. It has spread the system of free labor over the entire 
Union, and has made the United States one nation, indivisible 
in fact as it was in theory before the war. Especially for the 
South the war was really a blessing, though in frightful dis- 
guise, for Negro slavery prevented industrial progress, since 
slave labor does not stimulate inventive genius and cannot 
compete successfully with free labor in mills and factories. 
Even the agricultural con- 
ditions of the South are far 
better to-day than they 
were before the war was 
fought, for as a wage-earner 
the Negro is more profitable 
to his employer than he 
was as a slave to his owner. 

Other Affairs. — In the 
administration of Lincoln 
national banks were estab- 
lished, to assist in carry- 
ing on the affairs of the 
general government and 
also in developing the busi- 
ness of the country. The foreign affairs were greatly com- 
plicated because several European nations were disposed to 
assist the Confederacy to establish itself as an independent 
nation. The diplomacy of the minister to England, Charles 
Francis Adams, and the oratory of Henry AVard Beecher, who 
from the platform appealed to the English people to encourage 
the Union in setting free the Negro slaves, prevented recogni- 
tion of the Confederacy by Great Britain, 




Abraham Lincoln 



54 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Assassination of Lincoln. — On April 14, 1865, tlie President 
was assassinated ; and the Vice President succeeded to his 
office. 

58. The Administration of Andrew Johnson (i 865-1 869). — 
After the war was over, a great political problem confronted 
the statesmen of the nation. This was the problem of the 
methoci in which the former Confederate States should resume 
their places in Congress and in government affairs. Some 
people thought that Congress should require each State to 
apply for admission as though it were a new State. Others, 
following the opinion of Lincoln, thought that the States should 
be encouraged to resume their former places in the Union in 
every respect as though they had never seceded. Unfortu- 
nately, a third set of leaders secured power in the government ; 
so that in the Southern States, for many years afterward, the 
Southern whites who had not fought in Confederate armies and 
the newly freed Negroes had almost absolute power. To this 
Southern side were added some Northern men known as " carpet- 
baggers," who went to the South solely for the sake of getting 
public offices. In this wretched way, the political reconstruc- 
tion of the South was carried on. 

Industrial Condition of the Soutli. — After the war the indus- 
trial and agricultural affairs were in almost equally unfortunate 
condition with the political. At present, however, the South 
is progressive and prosperous, and its industrial conditions are 
much like those of the North, except for differences in climate 
and the presence of many Negroes in the population. 

Purchase of Alaska. — In 1867 we purchased Alaska from 
Eussia, at a cost of $7,200,000. 

Pacific Railroad. — In 1869 the first railroad from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific was completed. This was a political as well 
as a business tie between the West and the East. 

59. The Administrations of Ulysses Simpson Grant (i 869-1877). 
— Early in the first administration of Grant, an international 
Court of Claims, meeting at Geneva, awarded damages of 
$15,500,000 payable by Great Britain to the United States 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



66 



because she had permitted several cruisers to be built and fitted 
out in her ports by the Confederacy, to attack Union merchant 
vessels upon the high seas. 

Centennial Exposition. — In 1876, one hundred years after 
the Declaration of Independence, there was helu in Phila- 
delphia the Centennial Ex- 
position, to celebrate the 
independence of the United 
States. There had been 
other expositions before this, 
but their effect was by no 
means so great upon the 
national welfare. This ex- 
position did much to encour- 
age invention and scientific 
discovery in the United 
States, and brought together 
people from all sections. 

Election of Hayes. — Dur- 
ing the terms of Grant there 
was much dissatisfaction in 
the North over the corruption in the government of the nation 
and of certain cities, especially New York. Even greater dis- 
satisfaction existed in the South over the corruption and 
incompetence of the State governments. The j)opular dis- 
approval of the conditions of our government led to a very 
exciting presidential campaign in 1876. The opposing candi- 
dates were Samuel J. Tilden, a Democrat, and Rutherford B. 
Hayes, a Republican. In the election the Democrats polled a 
much larger popular vote than the Republicans; but a great 
dispute arose as to which had a majority in the Electoral 
College.^ This was finally settled, in favor of the Republicans, 
by a special Electoral Commission. 

60. The Administration of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877- 
1881). — Early in his administration, Hayes withdrew the 

I See p. 73. 




Ulyssks S. Grant 



56 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Federal troops that had been stationed in South Carolina and 
elsewhere ever since the Civil War. This popular act marked 
the end of the reconstruction of the Southern States by 
military force. 

Railroad Strike. — In 1877 a railroad strike in Pittsburg led 
to riot, and marked the beginning of strife and violence in this 
country between capital and labor. 

Return to Sound Money. — The United States government had 
been so greatly burdened by the debt of the Civil War that, 
until 1879, it was compelled to maintain a currency of paper 
money without actual redemption value in gold and silver 
Then it became able once more to pay its obligations in money 
of intrinsic (real) value as metal. This great event did much 
to promote domestic business and international trade; for, after 
this time, the standard money of the United States was stand- 
ard everywhere else, as it had always been up to the time of 
the financial disaster of the Civil War. 

61. The Administration of James Abram Garfield (i88i). — 
The next President was an able and genial man, who fell by 
the hand of a political "crank'' July 2, 1881, before he had 
been able to render that service to his country for which he 
was admirably fitted by his talents, education, and experience. 

62. The Administration of Chester Alan Arthur (i 881-1885). — 
The important events of the administration of the fourth 
President who succeeded from the Vice Presidency were the 
passage of a civil service reform law, which made merit the 
sole qualification for office, a reduction in the tariff below 
the high rates which had prevailed since the Civil War, and 
an act suspending for ten years the immigration of Chinese 
laborers. 

63. The First Administration of Grover Cle\eland (1885-1889). 
— From 1861 to 1885, all the Presidents were Republicans. 
The new President was a Democrat. In his first term. Congress 
passed acts to regulate interstate commerce and to fix the 
presidential succession in the event of the death of both the 
President and Vice President. 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 57 

64. The Administration of Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). — 
The next President was a grandson of William Henry Harrison, 
and a Kepublican. In his term there was legislation by Con- 
gress concerning silver as legal tendei money and regarding the 
tariff. The law concerning the exclusion of Chinese laborers 
was reenacted for another ten-year period. 

65. The Second Administration of Grover Cleveland (1893-1897). 
— In 1893 a commercial panic set in, caused in part by the * 
unwise legislation regarding silver. The President persuaded 
Congress to pass a tariff bill reducing charges upon imports. 
An act establishing a national income tax was declared uncon- 
stitutional by the United States Supreme Court.^ 

WoMs Columbian Exposition. — In 1893 there was held at 
Chicago an exposition to celebrate the four hundredth anni- 
versary of the discovery of the New World by Christopher 
Columbus. This Columbian Exposition was the greatest to 
that time in the history of the world, and showed to what 
heights the United States and the other great nations of 
the earth had attained in the course of their progress in 
civilization. 

66. The Administration of William McKinley (1897-1901). — 
Early in his first administration, the President called a special 
session of Coilgress which passed an improved tariff act. This 
greatly benefited American business. 

Causes of the American-Spanish War. — The vast empire of 
Spain in North America and South America had long been 
dwindling in area until, in 1898, all the territories that she 
owned were the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, southeast of 
the United States. Spain treated the Cubans so cruelly that 
they were constantly in rebellion against the government. The 
rebellion of 1895 had continued for three years with detriment 
to American commerce and investments in Cuba. Further- 

1 In both nation and State, throughout the United States, the constitutions 
of nation and State make the supreme law. These are interpreted by the 
Supreme Courts of the United States and of the various States. An act passed 
by Congress or a State Lei^islature is not a law when tbe Supreme Court declares 
'vhat it violates some constitutional provision. 



58 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



more, the moral sentiments of the Americans were shocked 
by the cruelty of the Spaniards toward the Cubans. At last 
the United States government and people, especially angered 
by the destruction of oar battleship Maine in Havana harbor, 
declared war. 

Manila and Santiago. — Admiral Dewey speedily took Ma- 
nila, the capital of the Spanish islands of the Philippines, far 
away in the Pacific Ocean. An invading army was sent to 
Santiago, Cuba, while a naval squadron blockaded the coast of 




The OiiEGOx at Santiago 

the islands. There, in a great naval fight with the Spanish 
war vessels, the Americans were as successful as they had been 
at Manila. Santiago was then quickly taken by the American 
land forces. 

Results of the War. — The result of this war was that Spain 
abandoned Cuba, surrendered Porto Kico and the island of 
Guam as a war indemnity, and in consideration of the sum of 
$20,000,000 ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States. 
For a time the United States maintained government in Cuba ; 
but in 1902 the island became an independent republic under 
our protection in international affairs. 



HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 69 

Hawaii and Tutuila. — In 1898 we annexed the Hawaiian 
Islands, and in 1900 they were erected into a territory of the 
United States. In 1900 Tutuila and some neighboring islands 
in the Pacific became the property of the United States by 
treaty with Germany and Great Britain. 

Interference in China. — In 1900 our government took a very 
prominent and successful part in the international troubles in 
China, where great mobs arose to drive out all foreigners. 

Assassination of McKinleij. — Early in McKin ley's second 
term, at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, September, 
1901, the President was assassinated by a foreign-born citizen 
who had never enjoyed the advantages of our public schools, 
and had never learned that our President directs the affairs of 
the nation in accordance with the will of the people and for 
their best welfare. 

67. The Administrations of Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909). — 
Again a Vice President succeeded to the Presidency. The 
chief acts of his administration were the suppression of native 
insurrections in the Philippines, the establishment there of 
American control and education, the encouragement of the 
Cuban Republic, the settlement of a great controversy between 
capital and labor in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, arrange- 
ments for the completion by the United States of a canal across 
the Isthmus of Panama, and the recognition of the republic 
of Panama. The law concerning the exclusion of Chinese 
laborers was reenacted for another ten-year period, and was 
applied also to the islands belonging to the United States. 

Louisiana Purchase Expositioyi. — In 1904 a magnificent expo- 
sition was conducted at St. Louis to celebrate the centennial 
anniversary of our purchase of Louisiana. 

Gold Standard. — In the presidential campaigns of 1896, 
1900, and 1904 the adoption by this nation of the single gold 
standard for its currency was determined by the defeat of the 
opponents of this single standard at the polls in the first two 
campaigns and in the Democratic presidential convention in 
the last campaign. 



60 HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

The Administration of William Howard Taft (1909-1913). — 

A tax was levied upon the net earnings of corporations. There 
was much discussion of conservation, which means the saving 
of forests, mines, waterpowers, etc., for the public benefit. 

The Administration of Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921). — In 
1913, Congress levied a general income tax, and reformed our 
banking and currency systems. In 1914, the Panama Canal 
was completed. During civil war in Mexico, our country, 
though provoked in many ways, remained strictly neutral. 

In 1916 we purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for 
$25,000,000. 

In 1914, the World War began that continued through more 
than four years of tremendous struggles. Many millions of 
fighting men took part upon each side. Though from the be- 
ginning, because of the outrages of the Germans in Belgium, 
France, and Poland, and of the Turks in Armenia, our sym- 
pathies were with the Allies, for two years our country tried 
to remain technically neutral. But the persistent attacks of 
German submarines upon all trading vessels and the shame- 
less trickery of pro-German propagandists were crowned in 
February, 1917, by an order of the German Government to us 
that we should have but one ship a w^eek each way between 
America and England for all traffic. We entered the war, sent 
more than two million soldiers to the fighting front over seas, 
and by magnificent performances in battle aided the Allies to 
final victory in November, 1918. Our President then went to 
Europe to help arrange the treaty of peace. 

During Wilson's second term the eighteenth and nineteenth 
amendments to the Constitution were adopted, providing for 
prohibition and for equal suffrage. 

The Administration of Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921- ) 
— When ex-Senator Harding assumed the Presidency in 1921, 
America stood first among the nations in prestige and was 
more devoted than ever to democracy. 



PART III 

GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENSHIP 

68. The Rights of the Citizen. — Every man, woman, and 
child born in the United States, or naturalized in accordance 
with the provisions of the laws of the nation and of any State, 
has rights and duties which are the result of our national 
history. This country is a representative democracy, in which 
each citizen is meant to be equal before the law with every 



The Capitol at Washington 

other citizen, and in which no man inherits more rights, offices, 
duties, or obligations in state or church than those of any other 
person. Each man has equal rights with every other man to 
think, speak, and act freely, to buy and sell property, to hold 
office, and to vote upon questions of government. 

61 



62 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

Enmneration of Rigid s. — An American citizen has the right 
to be considered innocent before he is proved guilty ; that is, 
he has the right to a jury trial and to be represented by coun- 
sel in the courts. He cannot be imprisoned without a hearing 
except for such crimes as murder and arson, when the evidence 
is strongly against him. Even then, by reason of the habeas 
corpus law, he has the right to a speedy trial before a jury of 
his equals. Further, he has the right to be protected by the 
police and militia in his property, and in his person from 
assault and battery. These rights were not secured without 
struggles through centuries. Down till 1805 Negro slaves 
were sometimes treated with brutality and were practically 
without legal rights. By reason of his constitutional rights, 
the citizen is a free man ; his house must not be searched or 
even entered except by due warrant at law, which protects him 
from personal harm. 

69. The Duties of the Citizen. — The citizen has certain duties 
prescribed by law and others prescribed by morals and common 
custom. It is the duty of the citizen to take up arms for his 
country when it is invaded by foreign enemies or when domes- 
tic peace is broken by riot and mob violence. As the citizen 
has the right to be protected from others who would do him 
harm, so he has the duty of protecting others from harm. It is 
the citizen's duty to serve on juries for the trial of criminal 
offenses. Such are some of his legal duties. 

Duties as a Voter. — Morally it is the duty of the citizen to 
vote at all elections and to attend the party primaries in which 
candidates are nominated for office. It is his duty to equip 
himself to vote intelligently upon public questions. To do 
this, he needs to study the history of our country, the prin- 
ciples of our government, and the actual questions before the 
community, the State, or the nation. 

Public Office. — It is the duty of the citizen to take public 
office when regularly nominated and elected to such office. It 
is good government in America that makes property secure and 
valuable ; and it is the duty of a citizen to serve that govern- 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 63 

ment, when requested to do so by a majority of his fellov/- 
meu, in any office for which his talents fit him, unless some 
other and greater public duty already claims his time and 
effort. 

Public Zeal. — It is the duty of the citizen to resist all acts 
and measures by which the public .welfare is endangered or 
the rights of any of his fellow-citizens are infringed. It is 
his duty to know the facts regarding his city government, its 
officials, its expenditures, and its policies. The American citi- 
zen, therefore, has not only many rights, but also many duties. 

70. Naturalization. — The term " citizen," in American gov- 
ernment, is used in two different senses. Sometimes it means 
any person — man, woman, or child — born in this country. 
As far as property holding is concerned, women have nearly 
the same rights as men. Children, as well as men and women, 
have the right to the protection of our flag, wherever they go, 
in any part of the world. All these people have equal rights 
to the protection of their property and their person. 

Qualifications of Voters. — The word " citizen " is, however, 
often used with a different meaning, as the equivalent of 
''voter." To 'he a voter one must be twenty-one years of age. 
and there are certain other qualifications which vary in the 
different States, such an length of residence, ability to read 
and write, payment of a poll tax, and registration. The nine- 
teenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
adopted in 1920, provides equal suffrage for men and women. 

Lavs of Naturalization. — Our country introduced a new 
principle in international affairs by permitting the natives of 
other countries to come here and to be naturalized as citizens. 
The laws with regard to naturalization are uniform in all the 
States. At least five years' residence in the United States is 
necessary, together with a declaration of intention to become 
a citizen two years before the citizenship papers are issued. 
Once naturalized, the foreign-born citizen has the same rights 
as the native citizen, with the single exception that he cannot 
be elected President of the United States. 



64 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

I 

71. The Ballot. — The right to vote and the duty to vote 
thoughtf idly are among the most im^Dortant features of Ameri- 
can citizenship. Elections are held in accordance with regular 
provisions of the Constitution of the United States and of the 
constitution of each particular State. Usually one year's resi- 
dence within a particular State is required before a citizen of 
another State may vote in the State into which he has moved. 
In e\ery State the ballot is now secret, so that no influence 
can be brought to bear upon the voter by an employer, a cred- 
itor, or any other person. The Australian system of voting, 
by which a voter marks his ballot in a private booth, and the 
operation of a voting machine behind a curtain, have been 
accepted as the best methods of voting. 

72. Office Holding. — A successful candidate for office enters 
upon the duties of that office in accordance with the require- 
ments of the constitutions and statute laws of the nation and 
State. His first duty is to inform himself as to the duties of 
the office and as to the condition of its business affairs. It is 
then his obligation to his constituents, Avho include those who 
voted against him as well as those who voted for him, to per- 
form the duties of his office for the best welfare of his whole 
community. Once an office holder, public business should be 
considered as preceding in importance any kind of private 
business. The office holder ought to carry on the business of 
his office conscientiously and impartially. It is greatly to the 
credit of most American office holders that they are honest 
and industrious in the performance of their duties. Good 
government depends quite as much upon good men in office as 
upon the laws that they are elected or appointed to carry out. 

73. Town or Township Meeting. — In the New England States 
and in certain other States, town meetings are often main- 
tained to carry out the jjrinciples of pure democracy, that is, 
to bring the government as near the people as possible. At 
these town meetings, annual and special, the citizens discuss 
and settle, usually by ballot, all local public measures. If the 
town meeting were practicable in all circumstances, it would 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 66 

be the ideal method for making all laws and electing all 
officers; but the limits of the town meeting are very narrow. 
At most, not over a few hundred men can gather together in 
public meeting and debate and deliberate calmly and judicially. 
Large meetings are apt to be swayed, now this way and now 
that, by excessive popular enthusiasm. In great cities, meet- 
ings of all the interested citizens in one place are impossible. 
The town meetings are decreasing in number because of the 
growth of communities. Local problems now require fixed 
policies of government and continuous policies supported 
systematically by parties. 

74. County Government. — The powers of county government 
and of local government differ greatly in various parts of the 
country. The county in New England is of very much less 
importance than it is in Virginia. Generally, counties have 
charge of the roads, the hospitals, the paupers, and the criminals. 

75. City Government. — Cities usually grow from towns. 
When the system of town government has become inadequate 
for a community, the city is established either in accordance 
with general State laws, or in accordance with a specific charter 
granted by the State. Usually, cities undertake, in addition 
to the governmental duties of towns, some of the duties of 
counties. Occasionally, a city is partly within one county and 
partly within another. Usually, however, like the town, it is 
within the county jurisdiction. The conditions of life are so 
much more complicated in cities than in towns that the large 
cities must undertake many things not required of towns. 
The large cities must have streets paved with stone, brick, or 
asphalt, and sewers carrying off the waste of households and 
factories. They must have a large police force. They need 
such public buildings as city halls, hospitals, fire houses, 
libraries, and great schoolhouses. 

Complexity of City Government. — The departments to be 
administered by a modern city government are so numerous 
as to make a business quite as complicated as that of the 
greatest commercial enterprises. Large cities raise by taxes 



m 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



many millions of dollars a year, all of which should be ex- 
pended economically and wisely. The city has hundreds and 
even thousands of employees, such as school teachers, firemen, 
and policemen; and these employees range in ability from the 
common unskilled laborer to the chief of police, the expert city 
engineer, the school superintendent, and the mayor. 




Public Library, Boston 

Functions of City Government. — The city touches the life 
of the individual American at many points. It educates him 
in the public schools ; if he is poor, it cares for him in sick- 
ness ; it protects him in his person and property ; it looks out 
for his health by the various resources of the health depart- 
ment and by city ordinances relating to garbage, sewers, and 
public nuisances ; it licenses the drivers of vehicles that trans- 
port him and his goods ; it maintains firemen and fire apparatus 
to protect his home from destruction by fire; it lends him 
books at the public library ; and if he dies penniless, it buries 
him decently in the public grounds of the cemetery. 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



67 



76. State Government. — Of all the governments to which the 
individual citizen is subject, the most important and the most 
extensive in the range of its jurisdiction is that of the State, 
which makes nine out of ten of the laws by which the citizen 
is governed. 

Functions of State Government. — The State by its Legislature 
determines most of the rights and duties of the citizen. It 
determines the religious rights of the citizen; it provides for 
his education; it regulates the ballot; it prescribes the rules 
of marriage, and the legal relations of husband and wife and 
of parent and child : it 
defines what power the 
employer has over his 
employee, the master over 
his servant, the business 
man over his agent; it 
regulates the affairs of 
partners, of debtors and 
creditors ; it makes the 
laws for the inheritance Capitol Building, Albany, N.Y. 

of property, for its sale and purchase, and for the renting and 
leasing and mortgaging of property ; it decides the conditions 
for business contracts and for the hiring of labor ; it enforces 
nearly all the laws regarding crime and civil injuries between 
man and man ; it legislates regarding the poor and the insane, 
and takes care of criminals convicted of serious offenses; it 
requires the building and maintenance of roads and schools; 
it decides upon what conditions corporations may be estab- 
lished, — municipal, public, and private. The municipal cor- 
porations include cities and incorporated towns, villages, and 
boroughs. The public corporations include railroads and street 
railways, gas companies, and water companies, requiring rights 
of way over land. The private corporations include fire and 
life insurance companies and all companies engaged in busi- 
uess in accordance with charters granted to them by the State 
government. 




68 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

Our State Government is Unique. — In many respects our 
national government is not unlike that of certain nations in 
Europe. European cities, too, are governed very much as are 
our American cities. The counties and parishes of England 
are not unlike those in various parts of the United States. 
But to the American State government, no government in 
Europe exactly or even closely corresponds. There was a 
time in the history of our country when many citizens felt 
that they owed allegiance to their State rather than to the 
United States. It was this feeling that caused the great body 
of Southerners to support their leaders in the effort to estab- 
lish the Confederate States. Many Southerners did not be- 
lieve in slavery, but all of them believed in State patriotism. 
In the American scheme of government, counties and towns 
are little more than convenient forms for subdividing the State 
for purposes of local government. The county and the town or 
city are directly dependent upon the State government for all 
their rights and privileges. 

State Constitution. — Every State has a written constitution, 
modeled after the Constitution of the United States, with 
which it may not conflict. 

Departments. — The State government consists of three de- 
partments: the legislative, which makes the laws; the execu- 
tive, which enforces them ; and the judicial, which explains 
and applies them. 

State Legislature. — The Legislature of every State consists 
of two Houses. The higher is called the Senate; the lower 
is variously called the Assembly, the General Assembly, the 
House, the House of Representatives, or the House of Delegates. 

Tlie Governor. — The head of the executive department is 
the governor of the State, who, in all but one State, has also 
a veto on legislation. The governor is commander in chief of 
the State militia. 

Courts. — In tlie judicial departments, the highest court is 
sometimes called the Court of Appeals and sometimes the 
Supreme Court, beneath which are inferior courts of more or 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 69 

less extended jurisdictions. The highest court is chiefly en- 
gaged in trying cases in which appeals have been taken from the 
decisions of the lower courts. It has the duty of interpreting 
the State constitution and of deciding whether the laws passed 
by the Legislature are or are not constitutional. (See note, p. 57.) 

Miscellaneous Boards. — In addition to these three regular 
departments of the State government, there are usually various 
commissioners appointed by the Legislature or by the gov- 
ernor for various purposes, such as the State Board of Educa- 
tion and the State Board of Health, whose duties are indicated 
by their titles. 

77. Government of Territories and Colonies. — In addition to 
its States, the United States has certain regions with carefully 
defined boundaries, known as the Territories. All of the States 
of the United States, except the thirteen " Original States " 
(including Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, and West Virginia) 
and California and Texas, were Territories before they became 
States. A Territory is ruled by a governor who is appointed 
by the President of the United States, with the consent of the 
Senate, but it elects its own Legislature and sends to Congress 
its own delegate, who has the right to serve. upon committees 
and to debate, but not the right to vote. In many respects, the 
organization of Territories is very much like that of States. 
As soon as a Territory has secured a reasonably large popula- 
tion and its people have reached some degree of culture, civili- 
zation, and morality, the Territory upon its own application 
may be received by Congress into the Union as a State. 

Government of Dependencies. — In addition to the Territories 
and to the District of Columbia, which is governed directly 
by Congress, there are now several colonies belonging to 
the United States. The most important of these are Porto 
Rico and the Philippine Islands. These are governed much 
like a Territory ; but the powers of the colonial legislature are 
more limited, and Congress exercises greater control. The 
colonies stand in a very different relation to the L^nion from 
that in which the Territories stand, since they are only to a 



70 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



limited extent self-governing. The Porto Eicans have been 
made citizens of the United States,^ but the Filipinos have not. 

78. National Government. — Over all the States, Territories, 
and colonies is the national government, which, like the State 
governments, consists of three branches, — legislative, executive, 
a.id judicial. 

Congress. — The Legislature of the United States is composed 
of two Houses, an upper House called the Senate, and a lower 
House called the House of Representatives. This national 
Legislature is called the Congress, or the meeting of the dele- 




Senate at AVashingto>' 

gates from the different States. The senators represent the 
State and the representatives the people. Congress makes the 
laws subject to veto by the President. This veto may itself 
be annulled by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, 
The powers and duties of Congress are prescribed by the Con- 
stitution of the United States. All powers and duties not ex- 
pressly given to Congress by the Constitution are reserved to the 
States. Congress has, however, many very important powers, 

1 For the names of the States, Territories, aud colouies of the United States, 
see pp. 10-13. 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 71 

such as providing for the national defense, coining money and 
fixing the standards of weights and measures, maintaining the 
national mail service, borrowing money, and levying and col- 
lecting taxes. The President and the Senate together make 
treaties with foreign nations and appoint office-holders to 
many offices. Most of the national office appointments are 
made now in accordance with civil service provisions, requiring 
proof of special fitness by competitive examinations. 

Senators ayul Eejjresentatives. — Senators of the United States 
are elected by the voters of the different States.^ Each State 
sends two senators. Members of the House of Representatives 
are elected by districts, each State having one or more repre- 
sentatives. At the present time, the average number of con- 
stituents to each representative is a little more than two 
hundred thousand. Consequently, the State of Delaware sends 
one member to the House of Representatives, while New York 
sends forty-three. There are 435 representatives in all. In 
addition, each territory sends a delegate. 

United States Courts. — The courts of the United States 
include the Supreme Court and many inferior courts. These 
courts deal with questions of law arising between citizens of 
the different States. As with the Supreme Courts in the dif- 
ferent States, so with the Supreme Court of the United States, 
the most important duty is to interpret the meaning of the 
Constitution. ' The Supreme Court of the United States is the 
most powerful law court in the world, for it decides whether a 
bill passed by Congress or by any one of the States is or is not in 
accordance with the Constitution ; and when it is not in accord- 
ance with the Constitution, the Supreme Court of the United 
States will not interpret it as a law. Therefore, the Supreme 
Court of the United States is the supreme governing body. 
It has final control in all matters save that amendments to 
the Constitution may be proposed b}^ Congress or by a conven- 
tion of delegates from all the States. Such amendments, when 

1 Before 1913 the senators from each State were elected by the Legislature 
of the State. 



72 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



ratified by the Legislatures or by conventions in three fourths 
of the States, become valid as parts of the Constitution. The 
nine Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the Presi- 
dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Many 
circuit and district courts are also maintained by the national 
government. 

TJie President and the Cabinet. — The President is at the head 
of the executive or administrative branch of the government. 
His duties in this branch are so much more extensive than his 
legislative power in vetoing acts of Congress that the Presi- 
dent's term of office is usually called " an administration." For 
convenience, the administrative branch of the national govern- 
ment is divided into ten departments with a secretary at the 
head of each. The ten secretaries form the Cabinet of the 
President. Like the Justices of the Supreme Court, these heads 
of departments are all appointed by the President, by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate. They have no powers in 
their departments other than those delegated to them by the 
President. Their two general duties are to carry out his direc- 
tions in rela- 
tion to their 
departments 
and to advise 
him regarding 
the affairs of 
their own de- 
partments and 
of the govern- 
ment as a 
whole. The 
ten depart- 
ments are 

State, Treasury, War, Justice, Post Office, Navy, Interior, 
Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor. 

Functions of the Departments. — The State Department deals 
with the international affairs of the United States, arranges 




Dkpartment Building, Washington 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 73 

treaties, and maintains diplomatic relations with foreign 
nations. The Treasury deals with the money affairs, regulates 
the national banks, and collects the customs duties upon imports. 
The Department of Justice, presided over by the Attorney- 
General, takes charge of the legal matters in which the United 
States is concerned. The Department of the Interior has charge 
of pensions, public lands, Indian affairs, patents, education, and 
the geological survey. The Post Office Department manages the 
national mail service, which extends to every city, town, and 
hamlet of the land, and communicates with foreign countries. 
The duties of the Departments of War, of the Navy, of Agri- 
culture, of Commerce, and of Labor are those suggested by 
their titles. These departments govern this nation in many 
other ways not stated here for want of space. 

Taxes. — Most of the revenue of the United States is derived 
from the taxation of merchandise of various kinds. Taxes are 
levied upon many kinds of goods imported at the seacoast cities 
of the East and West, and at the land borders north and south 
of the United States. Taxes are also levied upon beer, whisky, 
and tobacco manufactured in the United States. Minor taxes 
are raised by imposts and tariffs levied in various other ways. 

Presidential Election. — The President of the United States 
is elected by an Electoral College whose members are called 
electors and are chosen every four years. Each State has as 
many electors in the Electoral College as it has representatives 
and senators together. Thus, Delaware had three electors and 
New York had forty-five at the presidential election of 1912. 
Electors are nominated by party conventions held in the States 
for that purpose. The names of the State electors of each party 
are printed on the ballot under the name of the party, and these 
electors are voted for by the people. Those who receive the 
greatest number of votes are elected, and are expected to vote 
in the following January for the candidate of the party they 
represent. 

79. The Nature of our Government. — The United States gov- 
ernment is like a board of arbitration to maintain perpetual 



74 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

peace between tlie different States. For the sake of this per- 
petual peace and of free trade among themselves, the States 
have surrendered to the central government various rights be- 
longing only to independent nations. 

Effect of the Constitution. — As soon as the Revolutionary 
War began on the part of the thirteen colonies of England, it 
became evident that it would be impossible for thirteen separate 
nations to exist peaceably together on this side of the Atlantic 
Ocean. At the beginning of that war, these colonies were not 
very friendly to one another, but the English government com- 
pelled them to remain at peace. After the war was over, some 
of the States set up tariffs to prevent the citizens of other States 
from trading with them freely. Perfect peace and absolute free 
trade between the States were established by the Constitu- 
tion in 1787. Though the national government has charge of 
the general affairs of all the millions of people who live in the 
United States, the State, by its laws, comes most closely to the 
individual citizen. (See p. 67.) 

80. The United States in Comparison with Other Nations. — 
We have followed the history of the United States from the 
discovery of the New World by Columbus to the present time, 
in which it has become one of the great world powers, and we 
have studied the government of the United States, national, 
State, county, and city. What are the points of resemblance 
and difference between the United States government and that 
of other nations of the world ? 

England. — In some respects England is more democratic 
than our country. When the English government is no longer 
satisfactory to a majority of the House of Commons, its head 
officers must resign, and the members of the House of Commons 
must appeal to their constituents for reelection. Public opinion 
governs even more directly in England than in the United 
States. 

France. — France is a republic like ours in form, but the 
central government of France controls all the details of govern 
ment in every part of France. This is as though Congress 



OUIt CIVIL GOVERNMENT 75 

should decide whether or not a street should be built in this or 
that city of our country. France is a much more highly central- 
ized nation than ours. There is no subordinate governing institu- 
tution in France corresponding with our individual State. The 
head officers, or ministers, of the French government hold their 
position upon much the same conditions as those of England. 

Germavy. — Since the kaiser was forced to abdicate his throne 
at the end of the World War (1918) Germany has had a re]3ubli- 
can form of government with a president who is elected by the 
people. Both men and women have the right to vote. The 
president is assisted by a cabinet, appointed by him, and there 
are two legislative bodies which are made up of representatives 
elected from the various states. The president of Germany 
is elected for a period of seven years whereas the President of 
the United States holds office for only four years at a time. 
Our President may be reelected but in the entire history of our 
country no President has served more than eight years. 

Foreign City Goveimments. — Our city governments corre- 
spond more closely with the city governments of Europe than 
does our national government with theirs. This similarity is 
especially noticeable in the case of English cities. But, in 
general, the cities of England undertake more for their citizens 
than do the American cities. Many of these foreign cities not 
only maintain parks, schools, libraries, streets, water service, 
police service, and fire houses for their citizens, as we do in 
the United States, but also build houses for them and provide 
many other things. 

All together, the conditions of life in America make the 
American citizen more free and independent than in any other 
land. Self-government and self-support by individual effort, 
without direct or indirect dependence upon others, are the 
standards of American life. 

81. Democracy and Freedom. — A citizen of the United States 
is a voter in his town or his municipality, in his county, in his 
State, and in the nation. Often he is a voter in a school dis- 
trict separate from his municipality. He is partly a subject 



76 OUn CIVIL GOVEBNMENT 

and partly a ruler in four or five governments, one within 
another. The essential feature of the American system of 
government is that the citizen governs himself either directly 
or through a representative in whose election he has a part. 
The control of government is secured either by a majority or a 
plurality of votes. A majority of votes means more than one 
half, and a plurality of votes means more than any other 
party or person has received. 

Meaning of " liejmblic^' and '' Democracy J' — We call our 
country the land of representative democracy or of republi- 
canism. In a pure democracy the majority of the voters rule 
directly. Such a democracy is that of a town meeting. In a 
representative democracy the people select those who shall 
rule them by voting for them indirectly through representa- 
tives. A republic is a land in which the people rule either 
by pure democracy or by representative democracy. In such 
a country no man may inherit any office of government. In 
government and in religion, by far the most important con- 
cerns of mankind, every American is equal to every other in 
rights and opportunities. This means that before the law one 
man is as good as another until he has been convicted of being 
evil. It means that no private citizen can dictate to another, 
and even the rulers can rule only as long as the people main- 
tain them in office ; and they rule then only in respect to those 
matters concerning which the law directs them to rule. In all 
these respects America is the most fortunate country in the 
world. 

82. Duties of Public Officers. — When a man is installed in 
office, he takes charge of the duties of that office. In cities, the 
voters deal with matters of local affairs ; in counties and States, 
with matters of State law ; and in a nation, with matters of 
national law. A city alderman or a councilman votes regarding 
ordinances and resolutions to govern the city. The treasurer 
takes charge of the public funds. The commissioners of charity 
take charge of the poor. The police board selects and manages 
•^he policemen. The board of education selects the superin- 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 77 

tendent of schools and establishes rules for the government of 
the schools.^ The mayor is head of the general city govern- 
ment, and sees to the general enforcement of all legislation. 
The duties of various departments of government in great 
cities are so numerous that it would take several pages merely 
to make a list of them. The private citizen comes in contact 
more frequently with the men who hold municipal than with 
those who hold county and State offices. His relation to them 
is that of a voter for or against them, but he is also a subject, 
and must obey their laws while they are in office. 

83. America, the Land of Opportunity. — Behind the American 
citizen is a glorious history of national independence won and 
maintained by force of arms. Personal independence has been 
secured through centuries of lawmaking that have resulted 
finally in the plan and purpose of giving equal freedom, equal 
rights, and equal opportunities to every man. When this New 
World was first settled, the people were divided into classes 
and even into castes. Gentlemen's sons inherited rights that 
were denied to the sons of laborers. As the result of these 
centuries of political contention and improvement, America 
has come to be truly the land of opportunity. A law-abiding 
citizen who takes advantage of the opportunities of education, 
of the free ballot, and of the right to hold land or to buy and 
sell it, has before him the certainty of possessing those three 
unalienable rights, — ^' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness," which belong to all men, according to the immortal Decla- 
ration of Independence, but which were never hitherto realized 
in history. He lives in a land with many scenes of the greatest 
natural beauty, inviting him to keep his mind open to travel. 
By governing himself, he helps to govern the whole nation, for 
always by the ballot and sometimes by holding office he has 
a part in directing public affairs. He finds true personal lib- 
erty in obedience to laws and law enforcement, controlled by a 

1 One of the original and interesting features of American government is 
the establishment and maintenance of free public education, which exists in 
no other land of the world. 



78 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



majority of his political equals. By reading books and news- 
papers all through life, by taking advantage in. youth of the 
opportunities of systematic education, and by attending public 
lectures and great political meetings, in adult life, the American 
citizen becomes as intelligent and competent in public affairs as 
he is typically the best workman or business man of the world. 
84. Education and the General Welfare. — The object of all 
government is to care for the welfare and happiness of its 
people. The government of the United States not only sees 
to it that citizens are able to enjoy their rights without inter- 
ference, but also provides for the improvement of its citizens 
through education. In a republic such as ours, where each 
must take his part in governing the nation, whether it be by 

voting or by hold- 
ing office, the na- 
tional welfare is 
entirely dependent 
on the intelligence 
of the people. 
Therefore, the edu- 
cation of the people 
is a necessary duty 
of government. 

Public Schools. 
— Eealizing the 
importance of edu- 
cating each citizen, 
every State has 
established a system of public schools. These schools are 
entirely free to all children without regard to race, color, or 
religion. More than this, in many States laws have been 
passed compelling all children between certain ages to attend 
the public schools. When such children do not go to school, 
the parents are held responsible. The parents may be arrested, 
brought before a magistrate, and punished for neglecting to do 
their duty in this matter. 




Public School, New York City 



OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 79 

School Funds. — The expense of carrying on the public 
schools is met largely by taxation. Every citizen is taxed 
according to the amount of property he owns. Some citizens 
pay much more than others for the education of their children. 
Indeed, it often happens that a man is taxed large sums of 
money for education when he has no children at all. But this 
makes no difference, as the object is the education of all for 
the general welfare. The citizens do not often meet the whole 
expense of the public schools, however. Nearly every State 
has a school fund, which is derived from a certain part of 
public lands reserved for that purpose. The money from this 
fund is divided among the school districts in proportion to the 
number of school children in each. The remaining expense is 
met by the taxation of the people. 

State Superintendent of Schools. — In many States there is 
an officer known as the State Superintendent of Schools. It 
is his duty to exercise general supervision over the schools of 
the State and to suggest improvements to the State Legisla- 
ture. There are officers in each county who aid him in his 
work. 

Board of Education. — Each school district is in charge of a 
Board of Education, the members of which are elected by the 
voters of the district. Boards of Education have power to 
employ teachers, build schoolhouses, and buy text-books and 
supplies. 

Importance ofPuhlic Schools. — Every American citizen should 
be ready to do as much as he can for the public schools, for it 
is through the schools alone that the coming generation may 
be prepared to govern the country properly. 

85. Party Organization. — In every republican form of gov- 
ernment, political parties are a necessity. They present the 
different sides of all public questions to the voters, so that 
intelligent decisions may be made on public matters. 

Functions of Parties. — Parties educate and crystallize public 
opinion, select and nominate persons for public office, and carry 
on political campaigns. They arouse as much enthusiasm as 



80 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

they can for their candidates at the time of election, and get 
out as large a vote as possible. 

Methods. — For the purpose of arousing enthusiasm, the 
newspapers, pamphlets, stump speeches, torchlight parades, 
political clubs, and fireworks have their uses. Before every 
election, the newspapers are full of news concerning party 
candidates and party policies. Just before election, parties 
frequently distribute pamphlets that furnish the public with 
information regarding their plans and candidates, and some, 
times regarding the shortcomings of their opponents. Through 
stump speeches, the candidates make themselves personally 
known to large numbers of voters. Before an election every 
citizen is canvassed with a view to obtaining his vote for the 
candidates favored. On election day the party provides car- 
riages to bring to the polls those who otherwise either could 
not or would not walk to the voting place. 

Party Machinery. — Every party has a "machine." This is 
made up of men who are agreed as to what the party policy 
should be. They unite for the sake of the strength such 
union gives them. Each member of the " machine " holds his 
position because of the political influence he has among the 
voters of the party. The leader of the " machine " is called the 
"boss." The "boss" is usually a man of very great power in 
political matters. The "machine" is always at work among 
the voters, whether it is election time or not. 

Party Nominations. — Sometimes the nomination for public 
office takes place in the party convention which is composed 
of delegates appointed for the purpose. In many of the States, 
however, the party nominations are usually made through pri- 
maries. The primary is an election made by the voters of 
the party before and preliminary to the regular election. At 
the primary, the voters of the party nominate candidates to 
represent them at the regular election. The party sees to it 
that no one who is not a member of the party takes a part 
in its primaries. To prevent this, it keeps a list of ail voters 
who belong to it. When one party is decidedly larger than 



CUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 81 

tlie other, the nomination by that party at the primary or at 
the convention is practically equivalent to election. In order 
to become President of the United States, it is first necessary 
for a man to secure the nomination of one of the great political 
parties. Next, he must have a majority of enough States, so 
that his electors may elect him in the Electoral College. 

Party Coni'entions. — A city convention made up of delegates 
from the various wards takes charge of the municipal affairs 
of the party ; a county convention made up of delegates from 
the various towns and cities takes charge of county affairs ; a 
State convention made up of delegates from the various coun- 
ties takes charge of State affairs, and a national convention 
made up of delegates from the various States takes charge of 
national affairs. 

Party Platform. — The declaration of party principles adopted 
by a convention is called a platform, and each principle enun- 
ciated is called a plank. 

86. Party History. — America's political parties are not, like 
its government, copies of Old World institutions, but are the 
peculiar product of our peculiar conditions. With us, a party 
is not a mere faction of the people, but rather a great system- 
atic organization, with both a policy and a history. The great 
national parties have grown up by slow processes. The first 
parties were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The 
former believed in a strong national government, so that the 
United States might maintain a dignified place among the na- 
tions of the world. The Anti-Federalists wished to see the 
State governments strong, so that individual citizens might be 
protected from oppression by the national government. In 
the course of time, these parties disappeared, while others took 
their places. Among these were the Whigs, who favored a 
protective tariff, and the Free-soilers, who were opposed to the 
extension of slavery. 

Present Parties. — At the present time there are two great 
political parties in the United States, while there are several 
others of minor importance, such as the Socialists and the 



82 OUR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

Prohibitionists. The two great parties are the Democratic 
and the Eepublican. The Eepublicans have usually favored a 
high protective tariff for the encouragement of home industries, 
while the Democrats have been in favor of a low tariff, so that 
prices of goods to consumers should be low. In recent years, 
the Republicans have favored the single gold standard of 
money, while the Democrats for a time were in favor of the 
double standard, gold and silver. The Prohibitionists favor, 
both in the several States and in the Xation, the strict prohibi- 
tion of the liquor traffic. The Socialists favor government 
ownership of railroads, miiies, factories, and stores. 

Growth and Dedirie of Parties. — When a party has once 
taken a definite stand before the people in regard to certain 
policies, it will support its candidates only so long as they 
maintain their pledges to carry out its policies. Thus, such 
a party is responsible for its candidates. A weak and univise 
party disappears, as also does one that has accomplished its 
mission ; and new parties come forward, stronger and wiser. 
It is possible in the course of time that a small party may 
become great, or that some new part}^ not yet thought of may 
get a majority of the electors and may at some future time 
elect a President. 

J^eio Issues. — Among the new great questions are the fol- 
lowing : whether the nation shall adopt or maintain the policy 
of imperialism, by governing colonies of subject races remote 
from the United States ; whether the national government 
shall issue charters to the interstate industrial corporations ; 
whether the government shall own, or at least control, such 
great industries as coal mining, railroading, and telegraphing ; 
and whether the United States shall take an active part in 
plans for maintaining peace in the Old World as well as in 
the Xew World. 



I I 



PART IV 



OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 



87. Inventions. — The progress of the United States in 
population and territory has been accompanied by equal prog- 
ress in material wealth. We have four times the area that 
we had in 1800 and twenty times the population, while our 
general wealth has increased from a billion to several hundred 
billion dollars. This vast increase in wealth has been due in 
part to increase in land area and in the numbers of agricultural, 
industrial, and commercial workers. It has been largely due 
also to scientific discoveries and mechanical inventions. 

Tlie Cotton Gin. — Among the most important of these in- 
ventions was the cotton gin, which came into use in 1793. The 
cotton gin enabled man 
to accomplish by ma- 
chinery work that had 
before been done by 
hand methods, and led 
to a number of other 
important inventions in 
the manufacture of 
cotton. These cotton 
inventions, together 
with the immense in- 
crease in the number 
of slaves and the almost unlimited market in Europe for 
cotton, brought great wealth to the South. Since the War of 
Secession, progress in cotton raising and in manufacture has 
been very great. 

Steamships and Railways. — In 1807 the first successful steam- 
ship was built. The application of steam to water travel led 

83 




Cotton Gin 



84 



OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 



ffi 




Early Locomotive 



to a vast increase of transportation by water along the inland 
lakes and rivers. In 1819 a steamship crossed the Atlantic 
Ocean. In 1830 the steam locomotive and the iron 
railway came into practical use in this country. The 
new railway led to even greater economic changes than 

the steamship, which had to 
follow fixed waterways, while 
the lines of the steam loco- 
motive could go north, east, 
south, and west, almost at the 
pleasure of man. Before 1860 
railways were to be found in 
all parts of the United States 
east of the Mississippi, and during the Civil War a railway 
was carried west from the ^lississippi toward the Pacific Coast. 
The Telegraph was invented soon after the steamship and the 
railway. Which of the three, the steam locomotive, the steam- 
ship, or the electric telegraph, has been the most important 
agent in the economic and political transformation of this 
country, it would be very hard to say. Taken together, they 
have almost annihilated time and space. By telegraph, Boston 
may communicate with San Francisco within the briefest time ; 
by steamship, one may go from New York to Liverpool in less 
than five days; and by rail, Boston and Philadelphia, cities 
that one hundred years ago were more than a week apart by 
steady stage coaching, are now within seven hours of travel, 
while New York and Chicago are less than one day apart. Re- 
cently, the automobile and the aeroplane have given to man 
yet greater mastery of earth and of air. 

The Telephone. — Wonderful as these inventions have been 
in some respects, that of the telephone, which came into use 
in 1876, is equally remarkable. It enables men to talk to 
one another though they may be thousands of miles apart. 
These means of rapid intercommunication, mail with man, 
supplemented as they have been by the inventions of swift 
printing presses and pf photography, and by the development 



OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 85 

of the government mail service, have made it possible to or- 
ganize business combinations of a size hitherto not dreamed of. 

88. Business Associations. — Within the past ten years single 
corporations have grown until their capital stock and bonds 
have reached not merely fifty or one hundred million dollars, 
vast as such sums seem, but even half a billion, a full billion, 
and in one instance a billion and a half of dollars. This repre- 
sents more than the total wealth of the United States in 1800. 
The human mind can scarcely realize such sums.^ ■ 

Labor Unions. — While this movement has been going on 
upon the side of capital invested in business, an equally im- 
portant movement has taken place among the laborers, who 
have combined in unions to protect themselves against small 
corporations, while the unions have combined in amalgamations 
to protect themselves against the great corporations. 

Strife between Labor and Capital. — The last few years of 
American economic history have witnessed many struggles be- 
tween the capitalists on one side and the laborers on the other. 
The Constitution guarantees to protect all forms of private 
property. At the same time, it is an essential principle of 
American democracy that the citizens are equal in rights and 
opportunities. The struggle between capital and labor is one 
of the most important movements in American history. 

89. The Protective Tariff. — The amazing development of 
manufactures in the United States has taken place partly be- 
cause of the fostering care of our tariff system. Since the 
United States government must have money for its annual ex- 
penditures, it is necessary and advisable to impose taxes upon 
imported goods. By making these taxes heavy upon classes of 
goods manufactured at less cost in the Old World than in the 
United States, their prices to the American consumers are in- 
creased. For these increased prices American manufacturers 
can afford to produce them; hence, the tariff has stimulated 

1 It is profitable to discuss in class by illustrations the meaning of a thou- 
sand dollars' worth of property, ten thousand dollars' worth, and so on up to 
millions. Newspaper financial reports furnish valuable material. 



86 OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 

the manufacture of various kinds of goods that would not 

otherwise have been produced in this country. The protective 
tariff has had bitter opposition, and free traders have claimed 
tha't more harm than good has resulted from it, because of the 
increased prices to consumers. This discussion has been one of 
the most important in American politics for two generations. 

90. The Principles of Business. — Some knowledge of the 
natural laws of business is essential to a fair understanding 
of the great questions now before our people. These great 
questions are whether or not the organization of monopolistic 
combinations of labor should be restrained by national law, 
and whether or not such properties as coal mines, railroads, 
and telegraph lines should be owned by the State or the 
national governments. Other great questions similar to these 
have been solved by men who have known the history of nations 
and have understood the science, commonly called economics, 
dealing with the laws of business. 

The Nature of Business. — Not every activity that men en- 
gage in constitutes business. Play, which is physical activity 
for its own sake, is not business ; nor is that hard and contin- 
uous form of effort known as domestic service business. Not 
everything that involves the handling of money is business 
to all parties concerned, for charity is not business ; and yet 
charity costs private persons and whole communities great 
sums of money. Business consists in the production and dis- 
tribution of commodities that miuister to human welfare. It 
involves the buying and selling of products or of services. 
There are always two parties to a business transaction, both 
of whom wish to gain something. Business involves exchange 
of services or articles of value. The business world is com- 
posed of business men and of workmen of many classes. A 
business man may be a contractor, a tradesman, a manufac- 
turer, a merchant, or a banker. The business man is at the 
head of a business enterprise. He furnishes the capital that 
provides employment for labor, and his purpose in engaging 
m the enterprise is to make a profit by which he can maintain 



QUE BUSINESS AFFAIRS 87 

liimself and his family and increase his property. The work- 
men include clerks, mechanics, artisans, general employees, 
and unskilled laborers. 

Corporations. — In modern business, the great corporations 
are taking the place of individual business men and of firms 
of business men in the management of enterprises, so that the 
head employees of corporations, though they are paid salaries 
like workmen, are really business men ; that is, managers of 
business. While the business men work for the sake of prof- 
its, the workmen labor to receive salaries and wages. Some 
of the important men employed in the management of great 
corporations receive very large salaries. Many of the man- 
agers and presidents of great life insurance companies and 
railroads receive from $20,000 to $100,000 a year. The sal- 
aries and wages paid to men engaged in the more common 
employments are familiar to us all. They are higher than in 
Europe, partly because the use of more machinery makes their 
labor more productive. 

Sources of Profit. — One who understands the laws of busi- 
ness knows Avhy some men make such great profits from 
business that in the course of a few years they may accumu- 
late millions of dollars' worth of property, while good work- 
men may receive only enough wages to support their families. 
A manufacturing company engages in business for the sake of 
making a profit from the sale of its products. In order to 
make the products, it is necessary for the company to have 
land, buildings, machinery, materials, and working people. 
It is necessary also for the company to bear its share of the 
general expenses of the government. After all these expen- 
ditures are paid for, the surplus remaining from the sale of 
products is the profit. Therefore, in order to understand how 
a profit is realized from business, it is first necessary to under- 
stand what the expenses of business are. 

Land and Rent. — The first expense in any business is that 
of renting or purchasing land. When a manufacturer has only 
a small capital, he usually prefers to rent the land on which 



«» OUR BUSINESS AFFJllUS 

his buildings are to stand. The owner of the land usually 
makes a lease with the manufacturer for a term of years, with 
a provision for a renewal of the lease for an additional term 
of years, so that the manufacturer will not lose the value of 
the building that he erects. 

Variations in Price of Land. — The annual rent depends 
entirely upon the quality of the land or on its accessibility to 
the market. Since the owner of land has by law the right to 
exclude all others from using it, he can compel any one who 
wishes to use it to pay him for the privilege of so doing; but 
influences outside of his personal feelings determine how much 
the tenant will pay, for no tenant will pay more for a piece 
of land than he would have to pay for equally desirable land 
elsewhere. Consequently, the rents of various pieces of land 
vary. Inaccessible and inconvenient locations are worth noth- 
ing to manufacturers and merchants, while those very near and 
convenient to the market are worth great sums of money annu- 
ally. A manufacturer can afford to pay more for land imme- 
diately upon a railroad track than he can for land far away 
from a railroad, since with a factory upon land near the track 
he saves the cost of transporting his products by team to the 
railroad. 

Relation of Rent to Interest. — When the manufacturer pre- 
fers to buy the land outright, the price depends upon what the 
rent would be if the land were rented annually. Where bor- 
rowed money costs five per cent annually and where taxes on 
real estate are about one per cent on the value of the land, 
that value is about sixteen times the annual rent. Where 
money is dearer annually, land is cheaper to buy; and where 
money is cheaper, land is dearer. This is a complicated 
problem in arithmetic which manufacturers have to work 
out practically. 

Capital and Interest. — The second expense that the manu- 
facturer must meet is that of money borrowed as capital. If he 
uses his own capital in the business, it must nevertheless be 
considered as an expense, since his capital would have yielded 



OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 89 

him money if he had lent it to another. He will use this capi- 
tal to put up his buildings, and to buy machinery and materials 
for manufacturing. He needs also some cash capital to handle 
his products on the market.^ Where the total amount of money 
which is in the market to lend is large, and where the loan pro- 
posed is very safe, there the annual interest, or price for the use 
of money, is small. On the other hand, where the amount of 
money available for lending is small and where the risks of the 
loans are great, money is very dear. In the United States, 
within the past twenty -five yeats, money has been lent to manu- 
facturers for business uses at interest rates varying from four 
and five per cent to twelve and even greater per cents. 

Insurance for Money Misks. — If money lenders were paid the 
same rates of interest for loans where the risk of getting their 
capital back is great, as where the risk is small, one or the other 
of two things would happen: either the money lenders would be 
unwilling to lend their capital, or all accumulated wealth would 
be borrowed by so many unsuccessful enterprises that it would 
gradually disappear. The excess of interest paid by those 
who borrow for risky ventures over the interest that is paid 
by those who borrow for steady-going enterprises, is in the 
nature of an insurance fund out of which losses of capital are 
paid. 

Laivs concerning Interest. — In interest for the use of money, 
the law of the State interferes as in the case of rent for the use 
of land. Just as the law guarantees to the owner of the title to 
landed property the right of excluding all others from the prop- 
erty and enables a landlord to take his tenant's personal prop- 
erty, when rent due is not paid, so the law of the State enables 
a lender of money to collect from the property, real or personal, 
of a borrower, the capital sum borrowed, together with interest 
at the legal rate or as agreed, subject to the conditions set by 
the law. 

1 Most merchandise is soM upon a time credit of thirty, sixty, or ninety 
days. The seller gives up possession of his goods a considerable time before 
he receives cash in payment for them. 



QO OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 

Labor and Wages. — The third expense of the manufacturer 
is that for labor employed in his business. This expense con- 
sists of salaries, wages, and pay for piecework. The landlord 
owns land and can exclude others from it ; the capitalist owns 
money and can keep others from taking it ; and every man in 
the United States has the right to his own labor. And as the 
capitalist or the landlord who will not use or let others use his 
capital or his land can get no income from it, so the working- 
man, who has neither land nor capital, and who will not work, 
can get no income day by day. ' The times have been when 
land yielded no rent, when money brought no interest, and 
when most men were slaves and had to work without wages 
for masters whether they wished to do so or not ; but, in those 
times, even the greatest nations were very poor in comparison 
with so rich a nation of free and equal men as the United 
States. 

Laivs governing Wages. — Natural laws of business tend to 
govern the wages paid to labor. Some of these laws are diffi- 
cult to understand. The simplest and most important ones 
are the following: 

1. When the demand for workmen is great and the supply 
of workmen is relatively small, wages are high ; and when the 
demand is small and the supply is relatively large, wages are 
low. In "good times" wages rise; in "hard times" they fall. 

2. Men will not work for wages lower than the amount they 
regard as necessary to support a decent mode of life. When 
offered less than such an amount they refuse to accept the 
work, and do something else instead. They engage in business 
for themselves, or take to farming, or go to other places where 
labor is better paid. Sometimes they live without work for 
long periods, and are then forced by necessity to try to live on 
less wages than they were willing to accept before. 

3. Men without ability to do various kinds of labor are 
apt to get lower wages than those whose ability enables them 
to do now one thing, now another ; because when dissatisfied 
they have not the power to turn to some other kind of work. 



OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS 91 

Employers try to keep wages from rising, and employees try to 
make them rise. There is a steady push and pull in which 
poor men, or those poorly educated, are at a disadvantage. 

4. Men working at tasks requiring unusual ability or long 
preparation receive higher wages than those who do work 
requiring less ability and less preparation. This is because 
the supply of able men, well prepared for difficult work, is 
small while the demand is great ; and because, as the hire of 
land well located is high, so the hire of men well educated is 
high. The landlord gets high rents for his desirable land, and 
the laborer gets high wages for his desirable labor. 

5. In occupations requiring skill, the men often unite in 
unions and agree upon a minimum price for their labor. This 
uniting tends to raise wages but to decrease both the demand 
for and the supply of a particular kind of skilled labor. 

Materials and Price. — The next expense of the manufacturer 
is for the materials that he uses in his factory. Their cost to 
him depends upon their price, and their price depends upon the 
supply of and the demand for such materials in the general 
market. Price measures value in money. The value of goods 
depends partly upon the cost of producing them, and partly on 
how useful they seem to others. The price of goods is not for 
any great length of time lower than the cost of producing them, 
for the producers will cease to produce particular kinds of 
goods after beginning to lose money on them. This by dimin- 
ishing the supply of the goods will tend to raise their price. 
On the other hand, where competition is free, the price of 
goods cannot long remain much above the cost of production. 
For if the profits are very great, so many goods will be pro- 
duced that the supply will exceed the demand, — a condition 
which will tend to lower the price. The price of goods is 
never higher than the buyers are willing to pay rather than to 
do without them. 

Other Expenses. — The manufacturer has still other expenses 
to consider before he can estimate correctly his profits and his 
losses. These include taxes, insurance, and other items. 



92 OUB BUSINESS AFFAIRS 

Taxes. — Taxes are the amounts levied upon property bj 
government for its own expenditures. In every civilized 
nation, taxes are unavoidable. Government pays for the 
police, who, sometimes at the risk of their own lives, make 
property secure ; government pays for education by which chil- 
dren are prepared for life as good and useful citizens ; it pays 
for the protection of buildings from destruction by fire; for 
the army and navy that keep foreign enemies away from our 
homes ; and for many other things. 

Fire Insurance. — Fire insurance is the provision by which, 
upon the payment of a premium, various corporations agree to 
give in case of loss of property by fire either certain amounts 
of money or to repair the property. Only very wealthy men 
or corporations owning many different buildings can afford to 
run the risk of losing a building by fire. 

Frojit and Loss. — After the manufacturer has paid the rent 
of land, the interest on the cost of buildings, machinery, and 
cash capital, the wages of the workingmen, the taxes and insur- 
ance on his property, and all other expenses, and has received 
payment for the products of his factory, he knows whether he 
has made a profit or sustained a loss. 

Competition and Trusts. — As the workman cannot live unless 
he gets his wages, so the employer cannot long continue his 
business unless he makes profits. Many employers fail in 
business. This is due partly to competition which tends con- 
stantly to reduce the prices of products, and partly to the 
employers' drawing for themselves out of their receipts from 
sales more money than the profits warrant. In recent years, 
in the United States, more than half the business men — 
manufacturers, merchants, contractors — have failed at least 
once in business. In order to do away as much as possi- 
ble with competition, the capitalists in recent years have 
been organizing great corporations or trusts that have com- 
bined smaller competing enterprises and have put the former 
heads of these enterprises upon regular salaries in the great 
corporations. 



SUMMARY 

91. America in History. — When the colonists in America 
declared independence from England in 1776, they little under- 
stood what they had undertaken and \N^at the nation that the}) 
had begun was yet to become. They would have been aston- 
ished by a vision of the things that are now real. To them 
not the only incredible things would have been the telephone 
and telegraph, the steam locomotive and steamship, the great 
twenty-story office buildings, and the marvelous billion-doUai 
industrial corporations. Incredible to them would have been 
the present average popular intelligence due to the free public 
schools and libraries, and to the activity of the modern print- 
ing press. Incredible would have been the present high posi' 
tion of woman. Incredible would have been the political 
equality of all citizens, rich and poor, educated and ignorant. 

We have many things yet to accomplish in America, but 
there is not much that we can do in the way of progress by 
trying to revive or to imitate conditions in the Old World. 
In the United States we have yet to solve, if possible, the 
problems of capital and labor, of wealth and poverty, and of 
the overcrowding of cities ; but ever since the first European 
settlement of America, the people of this land have gone on 
from experiment to experiment in all the affairs of govern- 
ment and society, steadily realizing better and better condi- 
tions of life for the body and for the soul. It is the American 
ideal that all are to share in the general progress in wealth, 
intelligence, and morality. Here opportunity is denied to 
none. Here, for the first time in human history, a great and 
rich nation of men, free and equal, has grown up, conscious of 
the purpose in all its institutions to help each citizen to make 
the most of himself. By the free institutions of America, 



94 SUMMARY 

heritages of all past ages in science and art and literature, in 
government and religion, in the home and in the school, con- 
stituting an incalculable treasure, are ready and waiting to be 
taken by all who desire to possess them. How much we re- 
ceive depends almost entirely upon ourselves, upon our desire 
and our effort. The vast, progressive civilization all about us, 
by means of wdiich we live, offers its aid on every hand, when 
we understand its meaning and are ourselves willing and able 
to take our place and to do our part in its great and beneficent 
activities. 

In America, W' e have the open road for talent, industry, and 
character. Of course, not to every one come the same oppor- 
tunities, but there is no hereditary aristocracy of privilege that 
controls all high places. Any youth may become almost what 
he will, — of all our Presidents, about two thirds w^ere born 
in poor and humble circumstances. Most of our multi- 
millionaires, most of our inventorG, most of our educators, 
most of our great lawyers, surgeons, doctors, ministers, jour- 
nalists, authors, architects, public leaders, artists, and scientists 
have been and are living witnesses that we have in America, if 
not an equal chance for all, at least a fair chance for nearly all. 
Every good American believes in fair play and in no privilege. 
Such is the faith and the practice of American democracy. 
Therefore, we offer free to all a complete education, which is 
the assurance of our faith in human nature. 



APPENDIX 



THE PRESIDENTS 

Party Term State 

George Washington No party 1789-1797 Virginia 

John Adams Federalist 1707-1801 Massachusett. 

Thomas Jefferson Republican i 1801-1809 Virginia 

James Madison Republican i 1809-1817 Virginia 

James Monroe Republican i 1817-18'^5 Virginia 

John Quincy Adams Republican 2 1825-1829 Massachusetts 

Andrew Jackson Democratic 1829-1837 Tennessee 

Martin Van Buren Democratic 1837-1841 New York 

William Henry Harrison Whig 1841 Ohio 

John Tyler Whig 3 1841-1845 Virginia 

James Knox Polk Democratic 1845-1849 Tennessee 

Zachary Taylor Whig 1849-1850 Louisiana 

Millard Fillmore Whig 1850-1853 New York 

Franklin Pierce Democratic 1853-1857 New Hampshire 

James Buchanan Democratic 1857-1861 Pennsylvania 

Abraham Lincoln Republican 1861-1865 Illinois 

Andrew Johnson Republican * 1865-1869 Tennessee 

Ulysses Simpson Grant Republican 1869-1877 Illinois 

Rutherford Birchard Hayes Republican 1877-1881 Ohio 

James Abram Garfield Republican 1881 Ohio 

Chester Alan Arthur Republican 1881-1885 New York 

Grover Cleveland Democratic 1885-1889 New York 

Benjamin Harrison Republican 1889-1893 Indiana 

Grover Cleveland Democratic 1893-1897 New York 

William McKinley Republican 1897-1901 Ohio 

Theodore Roosevelt Republican 1901-1909 New York 

William Howard Taft Republican 1909-1913 Ohio 

Woodrow Wilson Democratic 1913-1921 New Jersey 

Warren Gamahel Harding Republican 1921- Ohio 

1 Sometimes called Democratic-Republican — the party from which the 
Democratic party of to-day claims descent. 

2 At the time of! John Quincy Adams's election, political parties were dis- 
organized. He called himself a Republican , but his doctrines were Federalistic. 

3 An anti-Jackson Democrat elected on the Whig ticket. 

4 A Union War Democrat elected upon the Republican ticket . 

95 



96 



APPENDIX 



DATES OF SETTLEMENT AND ADMISSION OF STATES 



No. 


States 


Datk of 

Admission 

into tiik 

Union 


Date op 

Settle- 
ment 


No. 


States 


Date ok 
Admission 

INTO THE 

Union 


<! a s 


1 


Delaware .... 


11787 


1638 


25 


Arkansas . . 


1836 


1685 


2 


Pennsylvania . . 


11787 


1682 


26 


Michigan . . 


1837 


1668 


3 


New Jersey . . . 


1 1787 


1664 


27 


Florida . . . 


1845 


1565 


4 


Georgia 


11788 


1733 


28 


Texas .... 


1845 


1692 


5 


Connecticut . . . 


11788 


1633 


29 


Iowa 


1846 


1833 


6 


Massachusetts . 


11788 


1620 


30 


Wisconsin . . 


1848 


1745 


7 


Maryland .... 


11788 


1634 


31 


California . . 


1850 


1769 


8 


South Carolina . 


11788 


1670 


32 


Minnesota. . 


1858 


1838 


9 


New Hampshire . 


11788 


1623 


33 


Oregon . . . 


1859 


1811 


10 


Virginia 


1 1788 


1607 


34 


Kansas . . . 


1861 


1854 


11 


New York. . . . 


11788 


2 1613 


35 


West Virginia 


1863 


1764 


12 


North Carolina . 


11789 


1653 


36 


Nevada . . . 


1864 


1850 


13 


Rhode Island . . 


1 1790 


1636 


37 


Nebraska . . 


1867 


1847 


14 


Vermont . . . . 


1791 


1724 


38 


Colorado . . 


1876 


1859 


15 


Kentucky . 




1792 


1775 


39 


North Dakota 


1889 


1812 


16 


Tennessee . 




1796 


1757 


40 


South Dakota 


1889 


1859 


17 


Ohio. . . . 




1803 


1788 


41 


Montana . . 


1889 


1809 


18 


Louisiana . 




1812 


1718 


42 


Washington . 


1889 


1811 


19 


Indiana . . 




1816 


2 1702 


43 


Idaho .... 


1890 


1842 


20 


Mississippi 




1817 


1699 


44 


Wyoming . . 


1890 


1867 


21 


Illinois . . 




1818 


2 1682 


45 


Utah 


1896 


1847 


22 


Alabama . 




1819 


1702 


46 


Oklahoma . . 


1907 


1889 


23 


Maine . . . 




1820 


2 1623 


47 


Nevv^ Mexico . 


1912 


1598 


24 


Missouri . 




1821 


1755 


48 


Arizona . . . 


1912 


2 1700 



CITY DEPARTMENTS AND EXPENDITURES 

The following report from the Auditor's office of the city of 
Newark, New Jersey, 1902, shows the amount appropriated 
for the various departments of the city government for the 
fiscal year beginning July 1, 1902. In connection with the 
public schools, it should be noted that there is appropriated in 
New Jersey, in addition to local amounts, a very large sum, for 



1 Date of ratifying the Constitution. 



2 Doubtful, 



APPENDIX 



97 



the benefit of each municipality, from the State treasury, so 
that the annual cost of the public schools in the city of Newark 
for the year 1902 was nearly twice as large as the item here 
given. 

In certain other departments, large sums are received from 
the local sources, as in the case of water which is paid for by 
consumers. 

Examine and discuss all these items. 

Public schools .... . . $505,000.00 

Sinking fund and interest 496,128.00 

Police . ... . 452,000.00 

Fire department 363,000.00 

Public lighting .... 185,000.00 

Streets and highways 119,000.00 

Eepaving streets 100,000.00 

Scavenger contract 74,164.00 

City Home 45,000.00 

Sewers, cleaning and repairs . • . 45,000.00 

Free Library ... , 43,000.00 

City Hospital 40,000.00 

Collecting taxes 28,000.00 

Assessment department 25,000.00 

Public health ... ... 23,000.00 

Poor and alms , . 22,000.00 

Street and Water Commissioners . . . 40,000.00 

Hospitals .... . , . 18,000.00 

Uncollected personal tax, 1900 .... 10,000.00 

Water supply 7,500.00 

Construction and alteration of buildings . 6,000.00 

Crosswalks ... .... 5,000.00 

Public baths . *. .... 5,000.00 

Public buildings ...... 5,000.00 

Public grounds ...... 5,000.00 

Sidewalks, repairing . . . . 3,000.00 

Bridges ... 3,000.00 

Purchase land for Fourth Police Precinct . , 3,500.00 



98 APPENDIX 

Purchase land for firehouse, Eighth Ward . . $3,000.00 

Wharves . . .... 1,500.00 

Industrial schools . . . • 400.00 

Defalcations ... . 100.00 

There are other items to be noted in connection with the 
city treasury. The city receives financial help from the State 
for its hospitals, its department for collecting taxes, its fire de- 
partment, its poor, and its department of health. The city also 
receives from individuals upon assessments of property sums 
for the department of water and streets. The water depart- 
ment in Newark receives more than f 500,000 a year, and 
the street departments nearly ^250,000. The total appropria- 
tions in Newark for 1902 were $2,683,958, and its receipts 
from all other sources were expected to be $1,537,592. The 
county taxes in Newark for the fiscal year 1902-1903 were 
$1,000,000. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FURTHER STUDY OF UNITED 
STATES HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 

1. Read in a standard encyclopedia the biographies of the 
great men whose names are mentioned in the preceding text. 
Talk over their lives and write brief paragraphs upon them. 

2. Find upon the map the various States and places men- 
tioned in the text. 

3. Consult the standard American History and Civil Gov- 
ernment text-books upon any points that prove especially inter- 
esting in the class discussions of topics treated in the brief 
account here. 

4. Bring to class sample ballots used in political elections 
and in party primaries. Discuss the duties of various offices 
for which candidates have been put in nomination by the vari- 
ous parties. Discuss also the conditions upon which men may 
become voters in your own State. 

5. Especially discuss the duties of all the prominent officers 
in your local municipality : mayor, aldermen and councilmen, 



APPENDIX 99 

board of health, board of education, school superintendent, board 
of public works, city engineer, commissioner of highways, com- 
missioner of sewers, commissioners of police, overseers of the 
poor, city physician, etc. 

6. Notice what local buildings your municipality owns in 
the way of city or town hall, jail, firehouses, schoolhouses, 
libraries, hospitals, almshouses, etc. 

7. Find out about the various public buildings owned by the 
State and the counties, such as asylums for the insane, poor- 
houses, hospitals, penitentiaries, reform schools, etc. 

8. In the current illustrated weeklies and monthlies, notice 
illustrations of various kinds of national, State, county, and 
local public properties, such as buildings, ships, parks, military 
stations, etc. 

9. Find out the conditions of service in the United States 
navy and in the United States army ; also the conditions of 
service in your own State's militia. 

10. In all work in history and government remember that, 
while breadth of view is desirable, accuracy of information is 
of first importance. It is not necessary to know many dates, 
but it is necessary to a true historical perspective that a few 
dates should be known with absolute correctness. 

Notes to Teacher. — 1. When opportunity offers, invite men who 
hold public positions, such as the chief of police, city librarian, super- 
intendent of schools, an army officer, to visit the evening school and to 
talk to the classes about the duties of government as they know them. 

2. When school facilities permit, give illustrated stereopticon lectures 
upon topics of historical interest or relating to the conduct of civil 
government, 

3. Get books of American biography and the best historical novels and 
have them read during evening school hours by those whose .proficiency 
warrants such use of their time. Such students may talk to the class 
about what they have read — an invaluable exercise in clearing up ideas 
upon only partly understood topics. 

4. Explain the principles of the American protective tariff and the 
methods of levying internal revenue duties. 

5. Explain the method of conducting national banks. This topic is of 
importance also in arithrnetic. 



100 APPENDIX 

ADDITIOiVAL READINGS 

Among books of especial interest and value, both to teachers 
and to students of American history, are the following : 

SOURCE MATERIALS 

Hart's American History told by Contemporaries. 4 vols. 
Hart's Source Readers of American History (Juvenile). 4 vols. 
Caldwell's American History. 
Old South Leaflets. 

ONE-VOLUME HISTORIES 

Thorpe's History of the American People. 
Barnes's School History of the United States, and McLaugh- 
lin's, McMaster's, Eggleston's, Channing's, etc. 

STANDARD HISTORIES 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 1492-1789. 6 vols. 

^choulers History of the United States. 1783-1865. 6 vols. 

McMaster's History of the People of the United States. (Revo- 
lution to Civil War.) 8 vols. 

Rhodes's History of the United States since 1850. 7 vols. 

Epochs of American History. Vol. I, Thwaites ; Vol. II, 
Hart ; Vol. Ill, Wilson. (This contains valuable lists of books.) 

ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF HISTORY 

Harper's United States History Series. 30 vols. 

Larned's History for Ready Reference (esp. Vol. V). 6 vols. 

SPECIAL WORKS 

Fiske's Discovery of America; Old Virginia and her Neigh- 
bors; Beginnings of Neio England; The Dutch and Quaker 
Colonies; American Revolution ; Criticcd Period 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

Willoughby's Rights and Duties of American Citizenship; 
Peterman's Civil Government ; Clark's The Government, 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE — 1776 



In Congress, July 4, 1776. 
the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of 

AMERICA 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle 
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they 
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 
equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that, when- 
ever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new govern- 
ment, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers 
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and 
happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long estab- 
lished, should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and, ac- 
cordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to 
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing 
the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a 
design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these 
colonies ; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter 
their former systems of government. The history of the present king 
of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all hav- 

101 



102 APPENDIX 

ing in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these 
States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary 
for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing 
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be 
obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to 
them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large dis- 
tricts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of repre- 
sentation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable 
to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfort- 
able, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole 
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with 
manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, 
have returned to the people at large for their exercise ; the State remain- 
ing, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from with- 
out, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States ; for that 
purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to 
pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions 
of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent 
to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their 
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of 
officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies, without the 
consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, 
the civil power. 

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent 
to their' acts of pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any mur- 
ders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States: 



APPENDIX 103 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury: 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offen.^es r 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring prov- 
ince, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its 
boundaries, so as to render it at onee an example and fit instrument for 
introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies : 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and 
altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments : 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested 
with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protec- 
tion, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries 
to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, 
with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, 
to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their 
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored 
to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, 
whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, 
sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in 
the most humble terms : our repeated petitions have been answered only 
by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every 
act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We 
have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to 
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have 
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured 
them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, 
which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We 
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separa- 
tion, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in 
peace friends. 



104 APPENDIX 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in 
general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world 
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of 
the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That 
these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and that all political connection between them and the state of Great 
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde- 
pendent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, con- 
tract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things 
which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this 
declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, 
we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 

honor. 

AN EQUAL CHANCE 

*' We have, besides the men descended by blood from our ancestors, 
among us, perhaps half our i^eople who are not descendants at all of these 
men. They are men who have come from Europe themselves, or whose 
ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals 
in all things. If they look back through history to trace their connection 
with those [Revolutionary] days by blood, they find they have none; 
they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make 
themselves feel that they are part of us ; but when they look through that 
old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that, 
' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' 
and then they feel that that moral sentiment, taught in that day, evidences 
their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in 
them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of 
the blood and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration ; 
and so they are. That is the electric cord in the Declaration that links 
the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together ; that will link 
those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds 
of men throughout the world. 

********* 

That sentiment gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, 
but hope to all the world for all future time. It was that which gave 
promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders 
of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. 

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to pos- 
terity, pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor to the support of 
the Constitution and the laws." Abkaham Lincoln. 



AN EPITOME OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 
THE UNITED STATES 

(The sections in quotation marks are exact reproductions.) 

PREAMBLE. " We the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure 
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution for the United States of America." 

ARTICLE I. Section 1 provides for the legislative department of 
the national government, establishing Congress, and dividing it into two 
Houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. (See p. 70.) 

Section 2. Representatives are apportioned among the several States 
according to their population. They serve two years. (See p. 71.) 

Section 3. Two senators are chosen from each State. They serve six 
years. (See p. 71.) 

The Vice President of the United States is President of the Senate. 

Section 6. All members of Congress are "privileged from arrest during 
their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going 
to and returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either 
House, they shall not be questioned in any other place." No member 
can hold "any civil office under the authority of the United States." 

Section 7. The representatives (coming direct from the people) origi- 
nate all revenue bills ; but the Senate may propose amendments. 

The President may veto bills, but his veto may be annulled by a two- 
thirds vote of both houses of Congress. 

Section 8. "1 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the 
common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, 
imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ; 

"2 To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

"3 To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes ; 

"4 To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

"6 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures ; 

105 



106 APPENDIX 

"6 To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States ; 

"7 To establish post offices and post roads ; 

"8 To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for 
limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respec- 
tive writings and discoveries ; 

"9 To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

" 10 To define and punish piracies and felonies coumiitted on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations ; 

"11 To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water ; 

"12 To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

"13 To provide and maintain a navy ; 

"14 To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces ; 

"15 To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions ; 

"10 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, 
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service 
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment 
of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the 
discipline prescribed by Congress ; 

"17 To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such 
district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government 
of the United States,^ and to exercise like authority over all places pur- 
chased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same 
shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and 
other needful buildings ; and 

"18 To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department 
or officer thereof." 

Section 9. Habeas corpus is guaranteed save in time of war or public 
riot. 

Free trade is established between the States. 

"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the 

1 The District of Columbia, which comes under these regulations, had not 
then been erected. 



APPENDIX 107 

consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, 
of any kind wliatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State." 

Section 10. No State can make any treaty with a foreign nation, " lay 
any imposts or duties, on imports or exports," "engage in war unless 
actually invaded," or coin money. 

{Article I has ten sections.) 

ARTICLE II provides for the executive department of the national 

government. 

Section 1 vests the "executive power" in the President and provides 
for the Electoral College. (See p. 73.) 

Section 2 makes the President "commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy," gives him control of all branches of the executive department, and 
grants him the pardoning power. " By and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate," he shall make treaties and appoint ambassadors, consuls, 
judges, etc. 

(Article II has four sections. ) 

ARTICLE III. Section 1 organizes the judicial department. (See 
pp. 71, 72.) 

Section 2. All crimes must be tried by jury, 

(Article III has three sections.) 

ARTICLE IV. Section 2. "The citizens of each State shall be 
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." 
Offenders against the law of one State, fleeing to another, must be returned. 
Slaves who run away must also be returned. 

Section 4. "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a Republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the Legislature, or of the ex- 
ecutive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic 
violence." 

(Article IV has four sections.) 

ARTICLE V provides modes for amending the Constitution. (See p. 71.) 
(Articles F, F/, and VII are not divided into sections.) 

ARTICLE VI makes the Constitution " the supreme law of the land 
. . . anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary 
notwithstanding." 

ARTICLE VII made the Constitution valid upon its ratification by 
nine States (See p. 35.) 



108 APPENDIX 

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 

There are nineteen amendments to the Constitution now in force. 

ARTICLE I. " Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging 
the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably 
to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances." 

ARTICLES II-IX guarantee other rights of the people, such as "to 
keep arms," to be free from unreasonable search of their homes, not 
" to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law," 
to speedy trial when charged with offenses, to trial by jury in large 
property cases, to fair bail, and to reasonable punishments. 

ARTICLE X. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people." 

ARTICLE XI concerns suits by a citizen against a State. 

ARTICLE XII provides a slightly modified plan of electing the 
President. 

ARTICLE XIII forbids "slavery" and "involuntary servitude." 

ARTICLE XIV gives to the freedmen the right to be counted equally 
with those born free, in the apportionment of representatives (formerly 
five slaves counted as equal to but three freedmen). 

ARTICLE XV. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote 
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." 

ARTICLE XVI. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment 
among the several States and without regard to any census or enumeration." 

ARTICLE XVII provides that the senators in the Congress shall be 
elected by the voters of each State. 

ARTICLE XVIII prohibits the manufacture, sale, or transportation 
of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes in the United States and 
territoiy under its jurisdiction. 

ARTICLE XIX. "The right of citizens of the United States to vota 
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of sex." 



THE CHARACTERS OF OUR PRESIDENTS 

Our Presidents are all veterans of public life. They come 
to the office from successful experiences as members of State 
legislatures and of Congress, as governors of States, as judges, 
as high officers of the army, as ministers of the Nation to 
foreign lands, as college presidents, as secretaries in the 
Cabinets, and as Vice Presidents of the United States. When 
inaugurated, the youngest, Theodore Roosevelt, was forty-two 
years of age ; when he left office, the oldest, James Buchanan, 
was sixty-nine years of age. 

The Presidency of our country is a dangerous office to hold. 
Three of the Presidents have been assassinated ; and one 
ex-President was shot, though fortunately he recovered, — 
Theodore Roosevelt. Two Presidents died in office, and two 
others lived but a short time after leaving office. Three 
Presidents lost their wives by death in the White House, — 
John Tyler, Benjamin Harrison, and Woodrow Wilson. We 
believe that it is the most important office in the world, and 
the hardest to fill. We have never elected a man who proved 
unworthy of our Presidency. 

Nearly all of our Presidents were born poor, and half of 
them were still poor when elected to the office. Not one of 
them was what we call a ^' rich man," though several by in- 
heritance or by marriage, by personal exertions or by good 
fortune were wealthy. Nearly every one had in this land of 
free schools a good education, and half of them were college 
graduates. Four of them were the sons of immigrants from 
one or another "old country" across the sea. Andrew Jack- 
son was a penniless orphan without even a brother or sister, 
uncle or aunt in this country. 

Only one, James Buchanan, was a bachelor. Nearly all the 
others had children, and half of them had grandchildren. 

109 



110 APPENDIX 

Every one of our Presidents was a kind-hearted man whom 
his neighbors at home liked as well as respected. 

Much as we admire and love all our Presidents, two of them 
are nearer to our hearts than any others, George Washington 
and Abraham Lincoln. It is worth while to know a few facts 
about each of these good and great men. They w^ere not kings, 
ruling by inheritance of rights superior to the rest of us, but 
our chosen leaders, serving by our will. 

George Washington was born in 1732, served as President 
from 1789 till 1797, and died in 1799. In his youth and early 
manhood, he had been a great athlete, and always was a physi- 
cally powerful man. He could run and jump twenty-two feet, 
and ride horseback sixteen hours a day. He was Commander- 
in-Chief of the Eevolutionary Army in the War of Independ- 
ence, and president of the Convention that made the Con- 
stitution of our country. He was a planter and merchant, 
as well as soldier and statesman. Wealthy and yet self- 
sacrificing, handsome, brave, and of stately manners, silent of 
tongue, though a prodigious letter writer, to this day we call 
him "the father of his country" and "first in war, first in 
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." It is a won- 
derful blessing for a nation to have such a warrior-statesman 
as model for all later Presidents, and indeed for all citizens. 

John Adams was born in 1735, served as President from 1797 
till 1801, and died in 1826. He had been minister to France 
and to other foreign lands. United States Senator, and Vice 
President. He had a brilliant wife, almost as famous as 
himself. 

Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743, served as President from 
1801 till 1809, and died in 1826, upon the same day as John 
Adams, and the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of 
Independence, which he himself had written. He had been 
Governor of Virginia, Congressman, Secretary of State, minis- 
ter to France, and Vice-President. He had founded the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, and acted as its first rector. He was a 
versatile man, — a fine horseman, a scientist, a violinist, a 



THE CHARACTERS OF OUR PRESIDENTS 111 

good lawyer, a statesman, and the writer who, first of all men, 
explained the philosophy of American democracy. 

James Madison was born in 1751, served as President from 
1809 till 1817, and died in 1836. He had been a Congressman 
and Secretary of State. To him more than to any other one 
man we owe the Constitution of the United States. He was 
a diligent scholar in all matters of statesmanship. 

James Monroe was born in 1758, served as President from 
1817 till 1825, and died in 1831. He had been a colonel in. 
the Revolutionary War, serving through the terrible winter of 
Valley Forge with Washington ; then he became Congressman, 
minister to France, Governor of Virginia, and Secretary of 
State. But he lived and died a poor man. His administra- 
tions were called '^ the era of good feeling." 

John Quincy Adams was born in 1767, served as President 
from 1825 till 1829, and died in 1818, while a member of the 
House of Kepresentatives and in the Capitol itself. His father 
was John Adams, his mother Abigail Smith, his own son 
Charles Francis Adams, who was minister to England under 
Lincoln. Abler even than his father, the second Adams hsfd 
been minister to Prussia and to Russia, professor of literature 
in Harvard College, United States Senator, and Secretary of 
State. In old age, in terrific debates for many years as a 
Congressman, he fought for the right of every American to 
petition Congress upon any matter whatsoever, and he won. 
He was an athlete who even into old age went swimming daily 
in the Potomac river, except in midwinter. 

Andrew Jackson was born in 1767, served as President from 
1829 till 1837, and died in 1845. He had been a judge, a 
member of Congress, an Indian fighter, Governor of Tennessee, 
and the general who won the battle of New Orleans in 1815. 
The people called him "Old Hickory" and "Old Hero." This 
fiery man brought into the national Government the democracy 
of the "New West." 

Martin van Buren was born in 1782, the first President who 
had no memories of the Revolutionary War ; served from 1837 



112 APPENDIX 

till 1841, and died in 1862. He had been State Attorney 
General of New York, United States Senator, Governor of New- 
York, Secretary of State, minister to England and Vice Presi- 
dent. Born poor, lie had grown wealthy from a great private 
law practice. He took the money belonging to the United States 
from private banks and put it into a Government institution, 
which was an important service to our people. 

William Henry Harrison was born in 1773, and served one 
month as President in 1841, when he died of pneumonia. He 
had been Governor of Indiana Territory, general in the army, 
Congressman, and minister to Colombia. Throughout his long 
hard life as soldier, pioneer, and politician, he had been poor. 
He left a large family of children and grandchildren. The 
people called him " Tippecanoe " because of a victory over the 
Indians upon an Indiana river of that name. 

John Tyler (elected as Vice President) was born in 1790, 
served as President from 1841 till 1845, and died in 1862. He 
had been Congressman, Governor of Virginia, and Senator. He 
left fourteen children, the largest family of all the Presidents. 

•James Knox Polk was born in 1795, served from 1845 till 1849, 
and died a few weeks after leaving the Presidency, partly from 
overwork during the Mexican War, and partly from grief at 
failing to secure a second term. He had been Speaker of the 
House of Representatives. As we owe the vast Louisiana 
Purchase in the west to Jefferson, so we owe the likewise 
vast Mexican Cession in the Southwest to Polk. 

Zachary Taylor was born in 1784, and served as President 
from 1849 till the midsummer of 1850. He had been the hero 
of the Mexican War and the people called him " Old Rough and 
Ready.'' He had spent all his life in army service in the 
West and had never cast a vote. Though he knew nothing of 
politics, he made an able President. He died of sunstroke and 
fever occasioned by laying the cornerstone of the Washington 
Monument. Though, like Washington, he owned a thousand 
slaves, he regarded slavery as wrong and opposed the slave- 
holders in Congress. 



TEE CHARACTERS OF OUR PRESIDENTS 113 

Millard Fillmore (elected as Vice President) was born in 1800, 
served as President from 1850 until 1853, and died in 1874, 
He had been a Congressman, State Comptroller of New York,> 
and Vice President. 

Franklin Pierce was born in 1804, served from 1853 till 1857, 
and died in 1869. He had been Speaker of the New Hampshire 
State Assembly, Congressman, Senator, and general during the 
Mexican War, where he had been injured in battle. The people 
called his administration "the second era of good feeling." 

Japies Buchanan was born in 1791, served from 1857 till 1861, 
and died in 1868. He had been Congressman, minister to 
Kussia, Senator, and minister to Great Britain. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, and served one term and 
six weeks from 1861 till 1865, when he was killed by a man 
who sympathized with the South. His only high public office 
had been service for two years as a Congressman, but he was a 
leader of the anti-slavery forces in the West. Born almost as 
poor as Andrew Jackson, in the backwoods, with hardly any 
schooling, by home study and public practice, he came to be 
one of the best writers and speakers of English that we have 
ever had. He was nicknamed " the Kailsplitter " and " Honest 
Abe." Though a good man, "w^ith malice toward none, with 
charity toward all, as God gives us to see the right," he 
became a martyr to the Presidency. He was the tallest of all 
our Presidents, being six feet, four inches in height, and in his 
early manhood had been very strong. 

Andrew Johnson (elected as Vice President) was born in 
1808, served as President from 1865 till 1869, and died in 
1875. He had been Congressman, Governor of Tennessee, and 
Senator, and after leaving the Presidency was again elected to 
the United States Senate. He was a very poor boy, married at 
seventeen years of age, and was taught to read and write by 
his wife. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born in 1822, served as President 
from 1869 till 1877, and died in 1885. He was a captain in 
the Mexican War and general of all the Union armies in the 



114 APPENDIX 

Civil War. The people called him " Unconditional Surren- 
der " Grant because, in 1862, he gave unconditional surrender 
as the only terms to the commander of a Confederate fort. His 
"Memoirs" were written just before his death, and showed 
that though he made a reputation as a silent and imperturbable 
man, he had strong emotions and great skill in expression. 

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in 1822, served as Presi- 
dent from 1877 till 1881, and died in 1893. He had been an 
army general, a Congressman, and Governor of Ohio. Four 
wounds in battle attested his bravery upon several occasions. 
He was, perhaps, the wealthiest of all our Presidents, gaining 
his fortune by inheritance, by marriage, and by law fees. 
Because his election had been contested bitterly as illegal, he 
refused to run for a second term. He gave away large sums 
of money in charity, and died greatly beloved. 

James Abram Garfield was born in 1831, became President in 
1881, served a half year, and died from the bullet of an assas- 
sin, who was insane. He had been a war general, a college 
president, and a Congressman. He was a fine public speaker 
and a great student. Like Lincoln and several other Presi- 
dents, he died without leaving any property. 

Chester Alan Arthur (elected as Vice President), was born in 
1830, served from 1881 till 1885, and died in 1886. He was 
the son of a poor immigrant clergyman, and the only impor- 
tant public office that he had held before becoming Vice Presi- 
dent was that of Collector of the Port of New York. 

Grover Cleveland was born in 1837, served from 1885 till 1889 
and from 1893 to 1897, and died in 1908. He had been 
mayor of Buffalo and Governor of the State of New York. 
Physically, he was next to the largest of the Presidents, and 
loved outdoor sports, especially fishing. He was the only 
man who, losing a reelection when in office, was again nom- 
inated four years later, and then won. 

Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Har- 
rison. He was born in 1833, served from 1889 till 1893, and 
died in 1901. He had been an armv general and United 



THE CHARACTERS OF OUR PRESIDENTS 115 

States Senator. He was a very able lawyer. In stature, he 
was the smallest of our Presidents. 

William McKinley was born in 1843, served four and a half 
years, from 1897 to 1901, and was killed by an assassin, who 
had just immigrated to America and did not understand that 
our Presidents are our servants, who do what we order them to 
do. McKinley had been a soldier in the Civil War, a Con- 
gressman, and Governor of Ohio. He was notably gifted as a 
public speaker. All Americans loved him for his gentle man- 
ners and warm heart. 

Theodore Roosevelt (elected as Vice President, and again as 
President) was born in 1858, and served from 1901 till 1909. 
He had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy, an army colonel 
in the Spanish-American War, and Governor of New York. 
He was an author of wide fame, a naturalist, an historian, a 
world-traveler, a hunter of big game, and a statesman. He 
died in 1919. 

William Howard Taft was born in 1857, and served from 1909 
till 1913. He had been a law school dean, a judge. Solicitor 
General of the United States, Governor General of the Philip- 
pines, and Secretary of War. Physically he was the largest 
of all the Presidents. After his term in the Presidency he 
became a university professor of great influence. 

Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856, and took office in 1913. 
He had been a university president and Governor of New 
Jersey. As a writer of English, he was an ornament to the 
Presidency. He was reelected for a second term and served 
during the World War. 

Warren Gamaliel Harding was born in 1865, and became 
President in 1921. He had previously been a United States 
Senator and a journalist. Like most recent Presidents and 
some of the earlier ones, he is a lover of outdoor life. 

Such were and are the men who serve us in the White House 
as Presidents. No men in all the world work harder and more 
faithfully for the general welfare of humanity. 



INDEX 



Aborigines, 14-16. 
Adams, Charles Francis, 53, 95. 
Adams, John, 38, 95. 
Adams, John Quincy, 42, 95. 
Adams, Samuel, 31. 
Additional Readings, 100. 
Admission of States, 96. 
Agricultural Regions, 8. 
Alaska, Purchase of, 54. 
Amendments to Constitution, 71, 108. 
Antietam, Battle of, 50. 
Appendix, 95-108. 
Appomattox Court House, 51. 
Arthur, Chester A., 56, 95. 
Assembly, State, 68. 
Atlanta, Federals in, 49. 

Bainbridge, Commodore, 39. 
Ballot, 64. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 53. 
*' Bleeding Kansas," 47. 
Boston Port Bill, 30. 
Boston "Tea Party," 30. 
Brown, John, 48. 
Buchanan, James, 47, 48, 95. 
Buena Vista, Battle of, 44. 
Bull Run, Battle of, 50. 
Bunker Hill, Battle of, 33. 
Burgoyne, General, 33. 
Business affairs. Our, 83-92. 

Cabinet, The, 72. 
Capital and interest, 88. 

and labor, 85. 
Cass, Lewis, 45. 
Cavaliers, 23. 
Centennial Exposition, 55. 
Cerro Gordo, Battle of, 44. 
Chancellorsville, Battle of, 51. 
Charter Colonies, 26. 
Chattanooga, Battle of, 49. 
Chickamauga, Battle of, 49. 
China, American interference in, 59. 



Chinese Exclusion Acts, 56, 57, 59. 
Church and State, 23. 
Churubusco, Battle of, 44. 
Citizenship, defined, 61-63. 
City departments and expenditures, 

96-98. 
City government, 65, 66, 
Civil War, 48-53. 
Clay, Henry, 37, 47. 
Cleveland, Grover, 56, 57, 95. 
Climate of United States, 8, 9. 
Colonial governments, 26, 27. 
Colonial life, 25. 
Colonial wars, 26. 
Colonies of United States, 12. 
Columbian Exposition, 57. 
Columbus, Christopher, 18, 20. 
Commonwealth in England, 24. 
Competition and trusts, 92. 
Confederate States, 48. 
Congress, Continental, 32, 35. 
Congress, United States, 70, 71, 105. 

Members of, 71, 105. 

Powers of, 70, 71, 105, 106. 
Constitution, 35, 74, 105-108. 

Amendments to, 71, 108. 
Constitutional Convention, 35. 
Contreras, Battle of, 44. 
Cornwallis, Lord, 34. 
Corporations, 87. 
Cotton gin, 83. 
County government, 65. 
Courts, Federal, 71. 

State, 68. 
Cowpens, Battle of, 34. 
Cuba, Rebellions in, 57. 

Republic of, 58, 59. 

Davis, Jefferson, 48. 
Decatur, Commodore, 39. 
Declaration of Independence, 32, 33, 

101-104. 
De Soto, Ferdinand, 20. 



117 



118 



INDEX 



Democracy and freedom, 75, 76. 

Democrats, 37. 

Departmeuts, Functions of United 

States, 72, 73. 
Divisions of United States, 9-12. 
Donelson, Fort, 49. 
Dred Scott Case, 47. 

Education and the general welfare, 

78. 
Election, Presidential, 73, 107. 
Electoral College, 73, 107. 
Emancipation Proclamation, 52. 
Embargo Act, ,39. 
Emigration from Europe, 14. 
Executive Department of the United 

States, 72, 107. 

Federalists, 37. 
Ferdinand, King, 18. 
Fillmore, Millard, 47, 95. 
Fire insurance, 92. 
Florida, Purchase of, 41. 
Foreign city governments, 75. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 29, 31. 
Fredericksburg, Battle of, 51. 
French Alliance, 33. 
French and Indian War, 2G. 
Fugitive Slave Act, 47. 

Gadsden Purchase, 44. 
Garfield, James Abram, 56, 95. 
Geneva Award, 54. 
Geography of United States, 7-17. 
Georgia, 24. 

Gettysburg, Battle of, 51. 
Gold Standard, 59. 
Government, City, 65, 66. 

County, 65. 

Foreign, 74, 75. 

National, 70-74. 

Nature of our, 75. 

Origin of our, 36, 37. 

State, 67-69. 

Territories and Colonies, 69. 

Town, (H. 
Governor, State, 68. 
Grant, Ulysses S., 51, 54-56, 95. 
Greene, General, 34. 
Guam, Acquisition of, 58. 



Habeas Corpus Act, 47. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 37. 
Harding, Warren G., 60, 95, 115. 
Harrison, Benjamin, 56, 57, 95. 
Harrison, William Henry, 40, 43, 95. 
Hawaiian Islands, 59. 
Hayes, Rutherford B., 55, 95. 
Henry, Fort, 49. 
Henry, Patrick, 31. 
House of Delegates, or Representa- 
tives, State, 68. 
House of Representatives, U. S., 70. 
Hudson, Henry, 22. 

Immigration, 13. 
Impressment of Seamen, 40. 
Independence, Declaration of, 32, 33, 
101-104. 

Steps to, 32. 
Indian tribes, 14, 26. 
Indians, Characteristics of, 15. 

Origin of, 15. 

Present condition of, 16. 
Insurance for risks, 89. 
Interest, 88, 89. 
Inventions, 83. 
Isabelhi, Queen, 18. 

Jackson, Andrew, 40, 42, 43,95. 

Jamestown, 21. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 37, 38, 39, 95. 

Johnson, Andrew, 54, 95. 

Jones, John Paul, 34. 

Judicial Department of U. S., 71, 107. 

Jury trial, 62, 107. 

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 47. 

Labor and wages, 90. 

Labor unions, 85. 

Land and rent, 87. 

Lawrence, Commodore, 40. 

Laws governing wages, 90. 

Lee, General, 50. 

Legislative Department of United 

States, 70, 105. 
Legislature, State, 68. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 47, 4S-54, 95. 
Louisiana Exposition, 59. 
Louisiana Purchase, 38. 
Loyalists, 31, 35. 



INDEX 



119 



Mad i sou, James, 39-41, 95. 

Manila, Battle of, 58. 

Materials and price, 91. 

Mayfloioer, 23. 

McKinley, William, 57-59, 95. 

Merrimac and Monitor, 49. 

Mexican Cession, 44. 

Mexican War, 44. 

Mineral regions, 8. 

Mississippi River, Discovery of, 20, 21. 

Missouri Compromise, 41. 

Monitor and Merrimac, 49. 

Monroe, James, 41, 95. 

Monroe Doctrine, 42. 

Montcalm, General, 26. 

Napoleon, Emperor, 41. 
Nashville, Battle of, 50. 
National Bank, First, 37, 43. 
National government, 70-74. 
Naturalization, 63, 105. 
Negroes, 14, 26, 42, 43, 48. 
New Amsterdam, Founding of, 22. 
New Orleans, Battle of, 40. 
" New South," 54. 
New World, Discovery of, 18. 
New York, Settlement of, 22. 
Nullification in South Carolina, 43. 

Office holding, 62, 64. 
Oglethorpe, James, 24. 
Old World, Trade with, 14. 
Oregon Boundary, Settlement, 45. 
" Original States," 10. 
Otis, James, 31. 

Pacific Railroad, 54. 

Pan-American Exposition, 59. 

Panama Canal, 59. 

Party history, 81,82. 

Party organization, 79, 80. 

Peninsular Campaign, 50. 

Penn, William, 24. 

Pennsylvania, 24. 

Perry, Commodore, 40. 

Philippine Islands, Acquisition of, 58. 

Pierce, Franklin, 47, 95. 

Pilgrims at Plymouth, 24. 

" Pirate States," War with, 39. 

Plank. Party, 81. 



Platform, Party, 81. 
Plymouth, Settlement of, 22. 
Political divisions of the United States, 

9. 
Polk, James K., 43-45, 95. 
Population, 13. 

Porto Rico, Acquisition of, 58. 
Preble, Commodore, 39. 
Present issues, 60. 
President, Election of, 73. 

Powers of, 72, 107. 
Presidents, List of, 95 ; characters, 109 
Profit and loss, 92. 
Profit, Sources of, 87. 
Proprietary Colonies, 28. 
Puritans in New England, 23. 

Quakers, 24. 
Qualifications of voters, 62. 

Railways, 83. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 21. 

Reading, Historical, 100. 

Reconstruction in the South, 54, 56. 

Reform, Civil Service, 56. 

Rent, 88. 

Representatives, 71, 105. 

House of, 70, 105. 
Republic, Meaning of, 76. 
Resources of United States, 8. 
Revolutionary War, 28-35. 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 59, 60, 95. 
Royal Colonies, 28. 

Santiago, Battle of, 58. 
Saratoga, Battle of, 33. 
Savannah, Sherman in, 49. 
School funds, 79. 
Schools, Public, 78, 79. 
Scott, General, 45. 
Secession, War of, 48-53. 
Senate, State, 68. 

United States, 70, 105. 
Senators, 71, 105. 
Settlement of States, 96. 
Sherman's March. 49, 50. 
Shiloh, Battle of, 49. 
Slavery, 53, 108. 
Smith, John, 21. 
Sound money, return to, 56, 59 



120 



INDEX 



Spain, War with, 57, 58. 
Squatter Sovereignty, 45. 
Stamp Act, 29. 
Standish, Myles, 23. 
States, Admission of, 96. 

Government of, 67-69. 

Groups of, 10. 

Settlement of, 96. 
Steamships, 83. 
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 47. 
Stuyvesant, Peter, 22. 
Suffrage, 62-64, 108. 
Suggestions for further study, 98. 
Summary, 93. 
Sumter, Fort, 47. 
Supreme Court, State, 68, 69. 

United States, 71, 72. 

Taft, William H., 60, 95. 
Tariff Acts, 41, 43, 57, 60. 
Tariff, Protective, 89. 
Taxes, 73, 92. 

Taylor, Zachary, 45, 47, 95. 
Telegraph, 84. 
Telephone, 84. 
Territories, 12, 69. 
Texas, Annexation of, 44. 
Tilden, Samuel J., 55. 
Tories or Loyalists, 31, 36. 



Town meeting, 64. 
Townshend Acts, 30. 
Trade, Colonial, 28. 
Trenton, Battle of, 33. 
Trusts, 92. 

Tutuila, Acquisition of, 59. 
Tyler, John, 43, 95. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 47. 

Valley Forge, 33. 

Van Buren, Martin, 43, 95. 

Variations in price of laud, 88. 

Vice President of United States, 105 

Vicksburg, Siege of, 49. 

Voters, Qualifications of, 63. 

Wages, Laws governing, 90, 91. 

" War of 1812," 40, 41. 

War with " Pirate States," 39. 

Washington, George, 32, 35, 37, 38. 

95. 
Wayne, Anthony, 37. 
Webster, Daniel, 39, 42, 47. 
Whisky Insurrection, 38. 
Wilderness, Battles in, 51. 
Wilmot Proviso, 45. 
Wilson, Woodrow, 60, 95. 
Wolfe, General, 26. 
York town, Surrender of, 34. 



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